From the Sewers to the Streets
by One Small Monkey
Summary: An oral history of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as told by them and those closest to them. A further description is given before Chapter 1. Yes, there's more. No, I don't know when I'll get it done. Enjoy what there is, for now. :D
1. Before

0. PREFACE

Several years ago, I read a book entitled "The Box - An Oral History of Television" by Jeff Kisseloff. The author had interviewed hundreds of people involved with the early days of television - writers, actors, directors, technicians, salesmen. He then chopped up and combined the interviews together so that the interview snippets told the history of television. I found the book fascinating, and was very intrigued by the rather unusual form that it took.

Soon after, I decided to try writing a piece of fanfic in that style - fan fiction as non-fiction, if you will. My idea was that April O'Neil, frustrated at the half-truths and flat-out lies that were swirling about, had decided to write a tell-all book about the Ninja Turtles. But figuring a book from her point of view would be just another opinion, she decided to let them tell their own story. So she booked some several hours to talk with each of them individually - in her apartment, I suppose. Then she combined the interviews into this "oral history" form. Thus April is referenced a few times, but never speaks.

As is common with fanfics in general (and TMNT fanfics in particular), I've tinkered with the storyline a bit. My basic storyline combines elements of the comic, the cartoon, the movies, and a small dollop of my own personal whimsy. Splinter's source of income, Rocksteady's story, MondoGecko's origin and so forth don't conform with any of the canonical versions. However, I don't think I've gone too far off the plot, so I hope readers aren't too turned off by this use of "artistic license". Two of my other stories overlap this one: "Grips" (told from Rocksteady's point of view) and "Mainstreaming" (which sort of picks up near the tail end of this one). If you don't like this one, chances are you won't like those, either. :)

* * *

I. "BEFORE"

DONATELLO

I suppose all life stories start with someone saying "He was born at such-and-such a time at such-and-such a place." Obviously, we can't do that. Well, Splinter can, I guess.

MASTER SPLINTER

I was born in Okinawa Japan on December 19, 1957. I was given the name Yoshi, after my grandfather.

RAPHAEL

Splinter don't talk about his early years much. While we were growing up, we were always asking him to tell us stories. Mainly, we wanted to hear stories about Japan. He had a ton of stories to tell, but he'd always tell us stories about other people - histories, or myths, maybe the occasional person he had met. He never really told us stories about himself. Of course, Splinter's about as humble as they come, so now that I think about it, I guess it ain't too surprising.

MICHELANGELO

We know the basics - where he's from, what he did, why he moved here - but that's about it. Unless we ask him a specific question, he never brings up his life in Japan.

DONATELLO

I know there are things in Okinawa he's not proud of. He and this other guy were both in love with the same woman - Tang Shin. He said he let his emotions get the better of him - that's kinda hard to believe now. I mean, Splinter's so calm and in control, y'know? And the strange thing is - we know about that. But there's probably a lot more to tell about his life there, but he's just never spoken about it. Everything else is sort of a mystery.

MASTER SPLINTER

I've grown reluctant to speak about my early life. I do not feel it is important to who I am anymore. I will simply say that I was a student of martial arts, and then a teacher. A problem arose between myself and another student, and I found it best to leave.

MICHELANGELO

There's something that's always sort of nagged at me. You'd think I would've asked Splinter about it, but I never got around to it. Whatever happened to him, he decided to leave Japan and come to America. So why didn't he settle in Los Angeles, or San Francisco? How'd he end up in New York?

MASTER SPLINTER

I had hoped to set up a school - a dojo here in America, and I...decided that New York would be the best place for it. The city had the most people, and so it had the most opportunity for students. (laughing) Whatever my talents, a shrewd business sense is certainly not one of them.

MICHELANGELO

Apparently, like a lot of folks coming to New York, he landed square on his face. A few weeks after arriving, he had no money, no place to live, nothing.

MASTER SPLINTER

It was winter, and it seemed colder than anything I had experienced in Japan. I had not found any permanent place to live. One day, I was mugged - a man pulled a knife and demanded money. I had nothing to offer, and in my cold and weakened state, I decided to retreat rather than fight.

RAPHAEL

I let Splinter tell the story his way, y'know, but I got a feeling there's something there he ain't telling. I mean, you gotta know him to see this, but Splinter? Run away? C'mon.

MASTER SPLINTER

My retreat took me down an alley, and while there, I spotted a manhole with its cover removed. I suppose it was karma, but at the time, I only saw it as a potential escape route. I ducked down the ladder and continued running. A minute or so later, I found I was no longer being pursued. I also realized that it was much warmer there than it was above ground.

LEONARDO

So apparently the sewer became his home for a few weeks. Made sense, I guess. He had to stay somewhere, and there wasn't anyone else there.

MICHELANGELO

Actually, if you can stand the smell, it ain't half bad.

RAPHAEL

And - what, about two weeks later, he's just cruising the sewers. He comes across this green puddle, and sees something moving at the bottom.

MICHELANGELO

Us.

MASTER SPLINTER

This green puddle fascinated me. The liquid did not appear to be water, but in the poor light, I could not determine what else it could be. Finally, my curiousity got the better of me, and I reached into the puddle to reach the moving creatures at the bottom, to see what they were.

MICHELANGELO

As for us, no telling where we're from. We could've been hatched in captivity, or born in the wild. Splinter says he saw broken glass around the mutagen, so that might've been a fishbowl. Something we used to live in. (shrugging) Who knows?

LEONARDO

Once in a great while, someone will say to us, "Boy, it must be neat to be a mutant." To which I say, "Hardly." I mean, forget all the crap that you have to deal with afterwards. No one should have to go through what we went through just to become a mutant.

DONATELLO

I can sum up mutation in one word - "pain".

MASTER SPLINTER

My mutation was...exceptionally painful. I lost consciousness, and did not regain it until some time later.

MICHELANGELO

Most people just don't get how painful this thing was. Even though we weren't exactly coherent during it, we all remember the pain. Think about it - you know how bad something hurts when it swells up suddenly. Well, our entire bodies - our skeletons, muscles, skin, everything - underwent a complete change in a matter of hours.

RAPHAEL

Like suddenly you're made of modeling clay, and someone's tugging and yanking at you, molding you into a new shape.

DONATELLO

I've tried studying genetics, but even when I read up on mutagens, none of them seem as...over the top as that mutagen was. Most mutagens may cause slight deformations in the DNA of the offspring of the infected parties. This stuff was unbelievably mutagenic. Whatever it was, it had the ability to play some major havoc with current DNA, to the extent of changing things immediately. It chopped and spliced it up, combining it with whatever other DNA was floating around.

MICHELANGELO

We got lucky. We got human DNA from Splinter. We could've had a fly land in that puddle. Or a rat.

LEONARDO

We're guessing Splinter brushed up against a rat down in the sewers. Otherwise, he would've ended up a turtle, like us.

MICHELANGELO

The mutation was a bitch, but I guess we got the best of all worlds. We could've ended up looking human, but having turtle brains. What good would that be?

LEONARDO

Some people ask if we remember anything from (making quote marks with his fingers) "before". (pause, then shaking his head) No.

MICHELANGELO

Sometimes I think I'm getting a memory from back before the mutation. I'll be sitting staring out into space and I'll be thinking about...I dunno. Lying in the sun or something. And I wonder if that's from before. But it's elusive. If I try to focus on it at all, it vanishes.

RAPHAEL

Even if I remembered that stuff, what would it be? I mean, I was a turtle. What'd I do all day? Eat, sleep, pee, repeat. It's not like turtles have some sort of innate wisdom to pass on to the human race.


	2. After

II. "AFTER"  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I think, honestly, that Master Splinter is the most caring, compassionate human being on the planet. I mean, think about it. Say you're homeless, in a new country. You wake up in the sewer, and now you're now a mutant rat. There are four other mutant turtle-like creatures next to you, making this godawful crying sound. What would you do? (pause) That's right - run like hell. I know I would've.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I did not even notice my mutated condition at first. I only saw four other creatures in desperate need of help. They were crying. They appeared to be sentient, but they clearly did not understand what was going on.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
It's hard to describe what that was like. None of us remember it very vividly, but we all vaguely recall what it was like. Honestly, there's no sensation to compare to it. The best I can come is this. Imagine you're two months old. You go to sleep, you wake up, and then you're twelve years old.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Suddenly, we were (gesturing) aware...of everything. We couldn't talk or anything. But now the brains were in place, and it could take everything in, and process it. And I think we all had two main thoughts. One - that hurt like hell. And two - damn, it's cold.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
There was this other creature with us. Yeah, he looked strange, but heck, it was the first thing we saw. We didn't know what strange was.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I talked to them. (smiling) In Japanese, I think. I had forgotten where I was. But it didn't matter which language I spoke - they did not understand.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We don't remember that day very well, but Splinter filled us in on all the stuff we're hazy on. He says he tried talking to us, which obviously we didn't understand. Then he reached out and put his hand on each of us. (pause) That I sorta remember. It was...maybe I was looking to cling to something, anything, but suddenly I felt like it was going to be all right, somehow.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I decided to build a fire, as it was quite cold. I tried to explain to them that I had to go get material to build a fire, but that I would be back. Again, they didn't understand. When I tried to leave, one of them...screamed.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
According to Splinter, we all turned to the one who screamed. Whoever it was - we don't remember who. Then we all realized that we had these voices, so we all started screaming at each other, and laughing. That must've been scary. Heck, it weirds me out just thinking about it.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Eventually, while we were amusing ourselves, Splinter managed to get some old boxes and pallets, and he lit a fire. The next day, he took us further down into the sewer - it was somewhat warmer there.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Master Splinter was sort of at the end of his rope. It's hard enough to take care of yourself in New York with no job. And now Sensei had four other mouths to feed.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Luckily, Splinter had made this friend in his first few days in New York.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Shoji Mitake is the owner of Nihon Ya, a shop that sells Japanese art and artifacts. I had spoken to him a few times before my mutation. It is only through his kind intercession that we are here today. The day after my mutation, I dared to leave my charges alone, and headed up to meet with him.  
  
MITAKE  
  
I was mildly surprised to see Yoshi again, but not as surprised as I was to see that he was now a rat.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I waited until he was locking up the store, and then called him over to meet me in the alley next to his store. I wanted him to be aware that it was, in fact, me before he saw my mutated condition.  
  
MITAKE  
  
Yoshi is not the type to ask for help, but even I could see that he was desperately in need. Had he been alone, he might have managed to struggle through without help, but with four others to care for, there was simply no way he could make it by himself.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Mitake offered to loan me some money, which I refused - my pride would not allow that. However, he then hit upon an ideal solution.  
  
MITAKE  
  
My wife and I were hoping to redecorate the store, and I had seen one of Yoshi's paintings. I felt his work would fit in excellently. I asked, if I bought the materials, could he create some paintings for the store?  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
He walked with me to Li's Market, where he proceeded to buy some food for me. I insisted that he subtract the total from what he would pay me for the paintings. He agreed, then of course did not do so.  
  
MITAKE  
  
I provided him with canvas, paints, and brushes, as well as some candles so he could see what he was doing.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
My charges managed to amuse themselves for long periods of time, during which I attempted to paint. I was suprised how easily the paintings came to me - I suppose believing I would never again see the outside world again, let alone my home country, the images came easily to my mind's eye. Even in my newly mutated state, the paintings emerged with little effort.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Splinter lucked out. Probably karma paying back for the whole mutation thing. Soon after he finished his paintings for Mitake's place, some guy saw them hanging there, and he asked if he could buy them. Mitake didn't know what kind of price these things commanded, so he asked the guy to make an offer. The guy offered, like, five hundred dollars.  
  
MITAKE  
  
Without thinking, I immediately said, "Oh, no." I thought that was far too much. After all, I had obtained them simply for the cost of materials. The man thought I was haggling with him, and raised his offer to a thousand. My impulse was to say no once again, but then I realized this money could be turned over to Yoshi, who severely needed it.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I went to visit Mitake a few days later - just to thank him for his generosity. (smiling) I was, to say the least, shocked when he handed me a thousand dollars.  
  
MITAKE  
  
He didn't want to take it, of course, but they were his paintings, and he certainly needed the money more than I did. He finally did take the money, but he insisted I keep ten percent of it, as his "agent". That was an arrangement we ended up keeping for some time.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
With that much money suddenly at my disposal, I thought at first it would be prudent to find a more comfortable place to live.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
It wasn't like Splinter wanted to keep us down in the sewers or nothing. But he wasn't sure how people would react to us. He didn't know if he could even find a place that would be willing to rent out to a bunch of freaks like us.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Rent in New York's insane, and Splinter had no idea if he'd ever get any money like this again. If he spent it all on a month's rent or whatever, then we might have to turn around and move out right afterwards. So it'd be like the money just went to waste.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
So I decided to stay underground, in the sewers, and raise my charges there for the time being. The money would pay for food for a fair amount of time - enough time for me to figure out another way to make money. 


	3. Master Splinter

III. MASTER SPLINTER  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
The man who bought my paintings from Mitake was later approached by Esther Wilkins. She is the owner of an art gallery several blocks from Nihon Ya.  
  
ESTHER  
  
I was very intrigued by these two paintings. I had sold several traditional Japanese paintings before, and I could see a similarity in style in Yoshi's paintings. But they were certainly different. They had this dreamy quality that myself, and others, found fascinating.  
  
MITAKE  
  
Esther came to my shop, and asked me if I could introduce her to Yoshi. I was pretty reluctant to do that. I realized Yoshi wasn't in a position where he wanted to meet with much of anyone. However, I also knew that he really did need the money. So I offered to act as his go-between.  
  
ESTHER  
  
That was rather unusual. My original thought was that Mitake actually was Hamato Yoshi. You might think that I'm simply creating a mystery, but you must understand that artists can have very strange temperments. I've had many artists do much stranger things than simply pretend to be someone else. However, I decided to let Mitake handle it his way.  
  
MITAKE  
  
Esther typed up a letter of introduction, and gave it to me to deliver to Yoshi.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Ms. Wilkins' letter was very complimentary. She stated that she liked my work, and that she believed that she could sell my paintings, if I so desired. I gave the matter some thought. The idea of selling my art as a regular source of income had never occurred to me. But since no other form of income seemed forthcoming, I decided it was perhaps an opportunity that should not be turned down.  
  
ESTHER  
  
Mitake returned with a letter agreeing to allow me to sell his works, for a standard commission. The letter asked that all payments should be made out to Mitake, and Mitake would pay Yoshi directly. (smiling) This of course made me think I'd been right. As far as I was concerned, Mitake was Hamato Yoshi. It seemed like a very complicated way of handling business - after all, if he had simply taken me into his confidence, I certainly wouldn't tell anyone. However, I decided it didn't really matter - as long I got paintings that I could sell, right?  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I took a long time with my first painting for Ms Wilkins. This was partially due to my desire to make it as good as possible, but in addition, I was also rather distracted at the time. My four charges had passed through their developmental years fairly rapidly, which at first alarmed me. However, in retrospect, it proved a relief. I did not have to deal with what would've amounted to four infants or toddlers for very long. They learned to speak extremely fast, and it wasn't long before they could take care of themselves with a minimum of help from me. While that meant I didn't need to parent them much, it still was very distracting. (smiling) To be honest, I wondered if they were going to continue growing old at an alarming rate, and would die of old age before the year was up. Fortunately, that was not the case.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
While Splinter painted, we'd play next to him. We didn't exactly have much in the way of toys, but then again, we kind of zoomed through childhood. It's like our bodies were already teenaged, and our brains were working overtime to catch up.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We amused ourselves fairly easily in those early years. We still do, come to think of it. Back then, we practiced our writing, or played handball or something. I remember Michelangelo was the expert at Chinese jacks.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Splinter taught us rule one - he was in charge. What he said, went. I don't think any of us really felt the need to try to question that. Rule two was never bug him while he's painting, unless it's really important.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I had my easel and cushion set up next to the table where they sat and read and played, so I would be able to parent them, if need be.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
To date, my most embarassing moment. I had just figured something out - I think I had finally mastered putting my belt on. You know, something earth-shattering like that. Well, you know how excited a young kid can get when he figures anything out. I ran up to Splinter to show him, bumped into him, and ruined his painting.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Michelangelo often states that he "ruined" a painting of mine while in a state of excitement. This is somewhat of an exaggeration. I did have to repaint a small corner, but it was fixed without too much problem.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We all gave him sort of wide berth after that whenever he was painting. Me especially.  
  
ESTHER  
  
The paintings did quite well, especially for a then-unknown artist. Most artists fall into one of two categories - traditional, in one way or another, or experimental. Yoshi's art falls precisely in that small overlap between the two. People who would only buy something very traditional would find them intriguing, and those who wanted something more "out there" liked them, too. And it helped that once some of the "right people" began buying them, other people wanted them, too. Some of the paintings sold immediately, some took months, but it was very steady as these things go.  
  
MITAKE  
  
A couple years after the first paintings sold, Esther showed up at my shop. She told me, "I'd like to stage an exhibition of your work." That confused me. I said, "What work?"   
  
ESTHER  
  
The way he said that, for the first time, I wondered if he wasn't on the level - maybe there was a Yoshi. So I corrected myself and told him, "I meant an exhibition of Yoshi's work."  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
When Mitake relayed this message onto me, I considered it for some time. I was not confident that I finish enough paintings for an exhibition in a short period of time. After all, I only paint when I have an idea of what should appear on the canvas. The few times I've tried to force an idea to come, the results have not...I have not been pleased with them. And although I was in the middle of a piece, I didn't know if another one would be forthcoming directly afterwards. So I wrote to Ms Wilkins, and offered to contact her when I felt I might have enough.  
  
ESTHER  
  
That sounded fair - it wasn't anything I hadn't heard before. Many artists will say something to that effect. Then they rush home, blow through ten substandard paintings, and call me five days later saying they're raring to go. But I didn't hear from Yoshi or from Mitake for several weeks, and since I had other artists I was dealing with, I sort of filed it away in my brain and forgot about it.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I think it was about nine or ten weeks later that I felt I had a sufficient number of pieces to discuss an exhibition. Three of the paintings I felt were... well, I was not entirely pleased at their final form. However, I thought I'd show them to Esther in case she didn't agree. (smiling slightly) They say an artist is the worst judge of his own work, and while that is perhaps an exaggeration, there is an element of truth as well.  
  
MITAKE  
  
I offered to take his paintings down to the gallery, like I always had, but Yoshi felt that he couldn't hide away forever. He had an exhibition coming up, after all.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I realized that the time had come to emerge from the womb. We could not stay hidden away forever. I knew I had to go topside - that was our term for going up onto the streets, interacting with the humans - to meet with Ms Wilkins. So, one Wednesday, I put on my best kimono, went topside, and walked to her gallery. I asked the man inside if I could speak with Ms Wilkins. (smiling) I was not too surprised with the look I received. He told me that she was too busy to speak with me. It was a fairly long walk to the gallery. When I mutated, something happened to my left ankle, and ever since, it has never quite healed. I do best with it bound up, and I can manage fairly well with a walking stick, but of course, I did not wish to make a return trip to the gallery if I did not have to. So, I told the man that I would wait for her to be free. I sat on the bench near the entrance, and waited for her.   
  
ESTHER  
  
Often, painters will come into the gallery asking for the owner, and then try to insist on getting their work sold. My assistant obviously mistook Yoshi for one of these "walk-ins". He shouldn't have - well, he should've at least asked his name, and then told me he was here. As it was, I was in the back doing the books for a couple hours before I came out. And there was this...rat! Sitting on the bench, eyes closed. I asked my assistant what that was. (laughing) I honestly thought it was some sort of art piece, not a living creature! He said, "He came in and asked for you." I walked over and sort of said, "Excuse me? Can I help you?" He opened his eyes, which sort of startled me. Then he spoke, which startled me again! "Esther Wilkins?" He sort of bowed, in that way of his, and said, "I am happy to meet you at last. My name is Hamato Yoshi." And I just stared at him for a second. All the pieces were falling into place - there was a Hamato Yoshi! And this is why he never showed himself! I felt horrible thinking he had to sit out there for hours waiting for me, but he really didn't seem to mind.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Ms Wilkins took me into her office, and we discussed plans for the exhibition. I told her I was still very nervous appearing in public in my mutated state, so I would prefer to have a short, one-time exhibition. She was extremely accomodating.   
  
ESTHER  
  
He explained how uncomfortable he might be in large groups, and I of course understood. We decided to keep his interaction with the potential buyers to a mininum. Honestly, I was thinking it might add a touch of mystery to the proceedings. We worked out all the details, set up the exhibition for several weeks later, and signed a new contract.  
  
MITAKE  
  
Part of this new contract stated that I got five percent of Yoshi's take. That was less than I had got before, but I certainly couldn't complain. Now I wasn't doing anything for Yoshi. I wasn't even acting as an intermediary. I just get a check once in awhile. I've tried to get Yoshi to take that clause out, but he insists on it.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Naturally, we all wanted to go to Splinter's first exhibition, but Splinter said forget it.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
He said he wasn't sure how the public would react to one mutant, let alone five. So we were going to have to stay home on this one. That made sense, but we weren't really happy about it.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Looking back, there was probably another reason not to let us go. We were pretty immature. It had been less than a year since the mutation, and although Splinter had us talking and being fairly polite, all of our social interaction had been with Splinter, with a few talks with Mitake here and there. We probably woulda freaked at the exhibition. Good call, Sensei.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I did get to make some food for the exhibition - first time my munchies were consumed by humans.  
  
ESTHER  
  
For the most part, the exhibition went well. Several of the paintings were sold, and despite Yoshi's...looks, he got along fairly well with everyone.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I talked to several people at the exhibition, usually with Ms Wilkins at my side. Most were quite polite. I cannot be certain, but I believe that most of the patrons thought that my appearance was simply an artistic whim. One woman asked me, rather hestitantly, "Why on earth would you choose to...present yourself this way?" I simply told her that, currently, this reflected who I really was. She probably thought I was being willfully obscure. (laughing) Which I suppose I was.  
  
ESTHER  
  
There was some sort of problem at the close of the exhibition. Someone - a man who obviously is no longer welcome at my gallery - made a rather uncomplimentary comment to Yoshi. I didn't hear exactly what it was, but judging by his tone, it certainly wasn't very nice. I was walking over to intervene when the guy just sort of gave Yoshi a shove.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I had noticed this man before. I had felt him staring at me in a rather unfriendly manner, and it had put me on the defensive. At the end of the exhibition, he walked up to me and said something...impolite. I was not taken unawares, and I was not worried about losing an altercation. But I did not wish to cause too much damage, or attract too much attention.  
  
ESTHER  
  
I didn't even see it, it happened so fast. One second Yoshi looked to be collapsing on the ground, but the next, he was standing up, his cane in both his hands, and this guy was on the ground.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I executed the Heron maneuver, which put me back in a standing position, but which in turn brought him down. I then decided to beat a hasty retreat. I apologized to the man, but let others help him to his feet while I talked briefly with Ms Wilkins. I told her it might be prudent for me to exit at this point, and she agreed.  
  
ESTHER  
  
I understood then what Yoshi was up against - many people judge him on his appearance above all else. I quickly calmed the crowd down, said that Yoshi would have to leave, and moved their attention elsewhere. I've held several more exhibitions of his work since then, but until recently, he either made a brief appearance at each one, or none at all.  
  
MITAKE  
  
At all the exhibitions after the first one, I took the role of the "artist's spokesman". Yoshi filled me in on some of the backgrounds of all the pieces, and I show up in my best kimono and answer as many questions as I can. I never claim to be Yoshi, although most people seem to assume I am.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I suppose I should have taken heart that I had so few problems - that so many people seemed to enjoy my work, and had even enjoyed talking to me. Instead, my mind dwelled on the altercation I did have. I felt that that one encounter justified all my wariness. It was some time before I allowed either myself or my sons to appear in public. And then, when we were locked in battle with the Foot, I felt it prudent to not link myself to others, lest I put them in danger. Thus I rarely made appearances at my own exhibitions.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Splinter's always playing it modest. He says he wasn't really cut out to be a teacher or a parent. But, if you don't mind me sayin' so, I think he did a killer job with us.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
It had been my wish to be a teacher, but I had never dreamed of becoming a parent. It probably was beneficial that I never actually, all at once, believed I was a parent. I simply felt I had to take care of these creatures, and then, much later, I realized I was now a parent. It was a role that I grew surprisingly comfortable in. I credit my sons - the joy they have given has far outweighed any burden.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
You know what irks me? Politicians and talk show hosts and all them, saying the only real family is the father and the mother. Look, some of us didn't have a choice, y'know? My mother and father were turtles. And not like us, either - more like the swimming-in-the-ocean variety. What kind of job could they have done bringing us up? Luckily, we had Splinter. And he did better than any foster family could've done.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
If you think about it, we were sort of a recipe for disaster. Four kids, one parent, all mutants, homeless? If you read that set-up, you'd probably guess nothing but ODs and gang activity in our future. But Splinter guided us straight, and I think he deserves all the credit for that.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Splinter...we can never repay him the debt we owe. I am most grateful...well, firstly, for the gift of cognizent life. But secondly, I'm most grateful that we chanced to be raised by such a man as he. I don't even think I can explain fortunate we have been. 


	4. Leonardo

IV. LEONARDO  
  
DONATELLO  
  
One word to describe Leonardo? "Leader".  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Everyone else is gonna say "leader". That's the obvious thing to say. Just to be different, I'll say...um..."compassionate".  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Oh, I got lots o' words to describe Leo. (laughter) But I've been working on putting all that in the past. So let's just say "leader".  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Several months after Splinter began our training, he came down with mutant flu. He was bedridden, and someone had to lead us in our exercises. He chose me. I thought at the time...I don't know. Maybe he was just cycling through us, and I was first. You know, I'd lead this time, and next time it'd be Mikey's turn. But it never came down to that. It was always me from then on.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
From the earliest days, Leonardo showed promise in this capacity. He would recognize problems when they arose, often in their very earliest stages, and immediately make a move to correct them. He was always the first to be prepared for practice, and the last to leave when it ended.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Don't get me wrong. He can lead better'n anyone. Except Splinter, of course. He's got that...I dunno. No matter what the situation, he can instantly eye it and dope out a plan. Immediately, he'll send of us scurrying in different directions, and I'm wondering "Why's he having me do this?" It isn't 'til it's all over that you go, "Oh, that's what he had in mind." We used to go, "Wait - why do you want me to do that?", but soon we realized he knew what he was doing. Well, sometimes he wouldn't be able to explain what he knew - he just knew. And we'd be wasting time with questions. Now we just do what he says, immediately, without even thinking.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
Three, four times I can think of, we've been in situations, and I've thought, "There's no way out of this mess." Leo's found a way every time.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I can't really explain it. I move into this...well, Sensei calls it the "selfless state". It's like everything speeds up - my thinking, my reaction time, my movements. I do what I do every other time - size up the situation, look at alternative plans, pick one, and implement it - but I do everything at twice the speed. Or faster.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
He is pretty intense. A bit too intense.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
He's got to learn to relax, though. Not everything's a battle situation.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
My brothers - Michelangelo especially - seem to think I take things too seriously. And maybe I do. But the survival and well-being of my family is...beyond important, actually - it's the most important thing to me.   
  
RAPHAEL  
  
His intensity is his problem, actually. Splinter says you've got to bend with the wind or you'll break. Leo don't bend. Not ever.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
The rest of us, we have hobbies. I've got my cooking, my writing, and my skateboard. Donny reads and builds things. Raph plays street hockey with Casey, and recently picked up the drums. (pauses) Leo doesn't really have a hobby. And I don't think that's good.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Mikey's...well, I know what he's trying to do. He'll ask if I want to go 'boarding with him and Mondo, or he'll challenge me to a game of chess. He's trying to get me to...I almost said he's trying to get me to slack on my duties. He doesn't see it like that. He's trying to get me to relax - think about other things for awhile. (smiling) I appreciate it. Really. But relaxing doesn't come easy for me.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I blame myself. I may have impressed Leonardo too hard on the importance of duty and family. (smiling) Now I have found myself trying to force him into relaxation. A contradiction in and of itself.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I do need to take it easier. They're right. And I'm working on it. (smiling) Hey, I'm sitting here talking to you, right? And I haven't grabbed my katana for over almost thirty minutes! (laughing) I've dabbled in a few things - playing Splinter's shakuhachi, reading. I kinda like drawing, but I'm really bad at it. (shrugging) Sensei says that doesn't matter, and he's probably right.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Splinter wanted to teach us all on every weapon. And he did, to a degree. We're all familiar with the most basic forms of each one. But it didn't make any sense to make us all experts on all of them. Splinter didn't have that many weapons lying around.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Originally, I started training on the katana, same as Leo. But I decided I liked the nunchuku better.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
When Michelangelo gave up on the katana, suddenly there were two swords available.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
One day, I saw Leonardo with both katana. Most likely, he was simply comparing the two, but suddenly I was reminded of niten ichi-ryu.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Splinter began teaching me the fundamentals of niten ichi-ryu - two-sword fighting. I remembered Sensei talking about it when he told us the story of Miyomato Musashi, but once he showed me the technique, it utterly fascinated me. That's the style I've concentrated on ever since.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Leonardo adapted to the style very quickly. I only knew the basics, but Leonardo has taught himself, adapting the style to fit his persona and his physique.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Actually, every aspect of martial arts fascinates me. Not just fighting and sparring, but the physicality, the artistry, the history. (smiling) There's a lot of books at the library about martial arts. I've read them all.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
If I had to choose one of us as a fighter - to go up against somebody, mano a mano - I'd pick Leo. Raph can get too emotionally involved, Don can get too clinical, and me...well, my mind can wander. Leo's the best.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Leonardo brings that same intensity, that focus, to whatever he turns his mind to. He's as devoted to his studies as he was to defeating the Foot. And when he's focused, he's unstoppable. 


	5. Donatello

V. DONATELLO  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
There is only one word for Donatello - "genius".  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I'd say "smart", but on second thought, that kind of makes the rest of us sound stupid. How about "brilliant"? Yeah, that'll work.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
It's easy to say he's the smart one, because he is, after all. But he's so much more than that. He's really...caring, and sensitive. (laughing) He's gonna hate me saying that - he thinks it makes him sound like a wuss.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Good story about Donatello. One time, couple years back, Splinter got a real bad case of mutant flu. Usually it's over in two, three days, but Splinter was laid up for almost two weeks. At its worst, Splinter couldn't even get up the strength to talk. We all took turns taking care of him, but Donny spent the most time with him. Volunteered. Just kept putting cool cloths to his head and wrists, making sure he could get some fluid in him. One night, Donny was with him for hours. Leo finally took over for him, and Don headed off to bed. I walked by his room, and Donny was there, sitting on his bed, arms around his knees, head down. I was like, "Hey, you okay?" He looks up, and I can tell...well, he's been crying. I was like, "Jesus, Don, what's the matter?" And he just said, "Splinter can't die. He just can't." (pausing) That's stuck with me ever since. Partially because I never really considered that Splinter's going to die some day, and leave us alone. I mean, I guess I knew that's something that happens to everybody, but it never really hit me until then. But the main reason I remember it - it was a side of Donny I never really noticed before. All of us, we're kinda rough-n-tumble guys - I'm just the worst at it. But Donatello's also got this quiet side. And he wasn't ashamed to let me see him like that. He didn't care that I saw that he cared so much. And that's...I dunno. Kinda cool in a way. I mean, yeah, I love Sensei and my brothers and all, but I don't want anyone to see us huggin' or nothin'. Donatello would be like, "I love you, and I don't care who knows."  
  
DONATELLO  
  
(sighing) Yeah, I'm the smart one who cries at sad movies. Can we move on?  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Living where and as we did, we of course did not have most of the conveniences that most people had access to. Donatello managed to overcome many of these obstacles, and create for us suitable replacements. Soon, it was as if we were living much as everyone else did.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Splinter would mention some...amenity that humans had. One of us would say, y'know, it'd be neat if we had one of those. Somewhere between one hour and three weeks later, we'd have one. Or something like it.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I liked the challenge. You know, using what was available, at the dumps and in the sewer, can I make this? (smiling) You'd be surprised how often the answer was "yes".  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We'd be like, wow, we got a refrigerator! Then, two days later, we'd be like, "Howzabout a freezer?" Never satisfied. (laughing) We probably drove him nuts.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
It helped that I didn't know what the "real" ones looked like. I didn't know what a garbage disposal looked like. So I sort of built something that chopped up bits of food and attached it underneath our sink with a little switch. It doesn't look at all like one you get at Home Depot or anything. If I had known that they look like that, I would've tried to make it look like that - and probably ended up with one that didn't work as well. Take a look at our old shower - most humans wouldn't have any idea that that's what it was. But to us, it was just our shower, y'know? (smiling) And Splinter didn't let on how dumb it looked.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Every so often, he'd gather us together and show us what he came up with. It was like Christmas every month. He could make anything, it seemed like.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I didn't always succeed. One of my biggest failures were these air purifiers. I was trying to take the stench out of the sewer. Kinda funny, if you think about it - I mean, we were so used to it, we hardly noticed it. Maybe I thought we'd get company over if I could keep it from smelling so bad. Anyway, I made these little things that were supposed to make it smell better. My first ones made it smell worse. The second ones didn't do a thing. My third ones toned it down a bit, but they sucked up way too much electricity to make it worthwhile. So I gave up. (shrugging) I kinda feel bad about giving up on that. They're selling something similar in the Sharper Image catalog now for $150 a pop.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I remember worrying once that he spent all his time tinkering with things. I thought he should be more...social. Spend more time with the rest of us. But it's not like he shies away from interacting with other folks. He's just happy working on his own. And you couldn't argue with the results, right?  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I ended up with the bo. (smiling) Because I got last pick. I remember thinking, hey, everyone else got these cool weapons - two of them, actually - and I'm stuck with this stupid stick. But I've grown attached to it. I'm actually happy I got "stuck with it". I thought at first I'd master this thing in a few months. I mean, it's just a stick, right? Nope. Still learning new things to do with it.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Generally, Donatello runs defense. He can take the offense with his bo, but it makes for a better defensive weapon.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Don's not a wimp or nothin'. But if one of us was gonna chose not to fight, it'd probably be Don. He'd probably rather read a book.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Splinter had a fair number of books, considering his refugee status and all. But it wasn't long before I had read them all. Heck, it wasn't long before I had memorized them all.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
April, I recall you offering to get a book out of the library for Donatello. (smiling) No doubt you had no idea what you were getting yourself into.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I was so in shock. You could just go get books, like that, for free! Soon, I was having you make weekly trips for me. After a while, though, I felt bad about that. You shouldn't have to pore over the racks at the public library for me. And that's when I decided I was going to go get my own library card. (smiling) Our first foray out into the real world.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I was very worried when Donatello announced he wished to begin going to the library himself. But my worries proved to be groundless.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I was so stoked when you took me to the library that first time. Splinter had me practice being polite over and over before I went, and I guess it paid off, 'cause they all took great care of me. After a few weeks, they started expecting me every Tuesday. Suggested some great books I would've never read without their advice.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
When Donny started going to the library, and returning without having gotten into any sort of trouble, it was like, "Hey, maybe we can venture outside."  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Isolating them from the outside world, perhaps I erred on the side of caution. I have been most heartened by how few problems we've encountered with people.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Once we became entangled with the Foot, I worried that Donatello might be putting himself in danger, showing himself topside once a week. But Donatello just said, "You actually think I'm gonna run into Bebop or Rocksteady at the library?" (laughing) He had a point.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I'm on a first-name basis with everyone at the library now. I've actually considered volunteering over there, but I'm not sure if that'd be wise. (smiling) Might freak out the clientele. 


	6. Michelangelo

VI. MICHELANGELO  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Of all the words I can think of to describe Michelangelo, probably "happy" works best.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
(pumping fist in air) "Party."  
  
DONATELLO  
  
He's like the heart of the group, or the soul. We may have all our routines down, but it's Mikey who's gonna be smiling while he does them.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Michelangelo is like the anti-Raph. If you asked Mikey, he'd probably tell you that there's nowhere in the world he'd rather be than exactly where he is.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Since the mutation, I've never stopped feeling fortunate. I mean, due to a complete freak accident, one that had next-to-no-chance of happening, we all have a chance to really live, y'know? And I can't tell you how amazing that is.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
As our lives have been somewhat of a struggle, especially early on, I have attempted to keep a positive outlook on life. Michelangelo is invaluable in helping me maintain that outlook.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
It's weird. Even when things get really rough, Mikey's there smiling through it. You heard that joke, right? This king has a really optimistic son, so he fills his room with horse manure, trying to bring him down. He finds him a few hours later, digging away happily. "With all this stuff, there's just got to be a pony, too!" That's Michelangelo in a nutshell.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Even with my trips to the library, the five of us might've stayed in the sewers forever if it wasn't for Mikey. He totally craves social interaction, and us four couldn't provide enough of it.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I look at Donatello, y'know, working on his stuff or reading a book, and wonder how he does it. I just can't be by myself too long - I start going nutzoid.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Mikey broke up a mugging one night. Ends up the would-be victim was the bass player for some local punk band - Atomic Zombie Mob. To say thanks, the guy gave Mikey two tickets to their next concert.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We met up soon after, and he told me had gotten these tickets. I sort of said, "Well, that was a nice gesture", and Mikey said no, he actually wanted to go. I told him, look, forget it - it was too dangerous, and Splinter wouldn't let you go anyway. He said, "Yeah, you're probably right." Then he sneaks out and goes anyway!  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It's not like I wanted to disobey Splinter. I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I'd get punished for it. But I felt this was an opportunity to...well, now I'd call it "expanding my social circle". I don't know what I would've called it back then. And I didn't know if I could explain it. So I just snuck off and went.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
(smiling) In a way, Mikey sneaking off made me feel really good. It was good to see someone acting the rebel besides me. And it made me look good by comparison!  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
The music was kinda lame, to be honest, but I hardly noticed. I mean, I loved the vibe, with all those people getting off on the tunes. Even though I didn't like the music, I liked how it affected everyone else, so I ended up enjoying myself. A few folks came over to talk to me, and that was just so cool. I mean, humans were talking to me! And they weren't freaked out, either. They just figured I got all dolled up in green for the show. I wasn't even the weirdest looking one there!  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
When I discovered that Michelangelo had gone to a rock concert, I agonized heavily over whether to go retrieve him. I finally decided that that would probably cause even more problems, and so I had to trust that he could take care of himself. When he finally returned, he immediately confessed, but it was obvious that he had had a very good time. (smiling slightly) His punishment was born gladly, you might say.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I told Splinter I was sorry I snuck out like that, but that I had a great time. And I was accepted like any other human.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
He did admit the music was not all that he had hoped.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I've gone to a lot more shows since that - most of 'em better. Sure, I get looks, and sometimes someone'll say something, but I just say, "I'm here for the music." They always leave you alone after that.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
He dragged me to one concert. (shaking his head) Never again. Well, maybe if Mondo's band's playing...  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I go along with Mikey sometimes. I like the thrashy hard stuff - three chords 'n' the truth - but Mikey likes it all.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
You know the real reason we hate to see Mikey go to a show? It means someone else has to cook.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Cooking was one of the chores we used to rotate through. Every fifth day, it was your turn to make dinner. But I loved doing it so much, I started switching my other chores for it.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
After awhile, Mikey would be saying, "You want me to cook for you tonight?" And I'd say, "What do I have to do for you?" and he'd say, "Don't worry about it." (smiling) Hard to pass that up. Still, I'd usually end up doing something for him - taking out the trash or something - just because I felt bad that I didn't take something on.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Actually, that worked out great. My running joke is that I can fix anything except a decent dinner. (smiling) The guys were getting a little tired of my peanut butter sandwiches.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Michelangelo became excellent at cooking on a very limited budget.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Money's not as much of a concern now, so we can eat somewhat better. We even go out to eat once in awhile - to hell with folks staring. But I'd still rather have Mikey's pizza than anything else in the world.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Michelangelo was reading a book in which the characters were at a sushi restaurant. Michelangelo asked me "What is sushi?"  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Splinter told me what sushi was, and how they make it. I could tell by the way he was talkin' that he really liked the stuff. So I had you get me that book on how to make sushi - all quiet-like, 'cause I didn't want Splinter to know. I read that book over and over - memorized it. Finally, I got up the nerve to make it. I told everyone there'd be a surprise for dinner, and to stay out of the kitchen area.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Were we curious? Yeah, of course. But Mikey never let us down, so I knew better than to spoil the surprise.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I was a nervous wreck. I so much wanted this to be perfect for Splinter. (shaking head) It wasn't. Well, it was all right, but getting the shape right and all - it takes a lot of practice. I put the best-looking pieces - two rolls and five singles - onto a plate, then I poured some soy sauce in a little bowl, a little wasabi, pickled ginger. It wasn't the prettiest sushi platter you've ever seen. Didn't really look like the ones in the book.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
So out comes Michelangelo with this plate and little bowl on a tray, and he places them in front of Splinter. To this day, I've never seen a happier expression on Splinter's face.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Splinter says, "Michelangelo, this is sushi!" Like he didn't know.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
(smiling) I pride myself in keeping my emotions from showing. I will freely admit that I failed that night.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I told him to go ahead and eat - I had more to bring out for the rest of us. He picked up one piece with his chopsticks, dipped it in soy sauce, and bit into it.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Frankly, the food looked pretty strange, so I was watching Splinter's face for some sort of reaction after that first bite. (smiling) Yeah, it got a reaction.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Splinter closed his eyes, chewed and swallowed. Then he just sat there for a second, and I was all set to ask if it was OK. But then he opened his eyes, rearranged himself on his cushion into a kneeling position...and bowed to me.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I find it hard to state what I was feeling at that moment. It was not the sushi so much as...it was the first time that I was hit by the realization that the five of us were in fact a family. Michelangelo had done something very special, simply in order to please me. I felt extremely honored and humbled. (laughing) Although I am sure I embarassed him with my reaction.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I gave Mikey some hell about it for a few days - y'know, how he was probably Splinter's favorite now 'n' all.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Once I was out on patrol, and I broke up a drug deal. The two guys just split. One of them left behind a skateboard. (grinning) That was fatal.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Mikey came home with this skateboard, and said he was going to try to teach himself to ride it. I had just started going to the library, so I got him a couple books to read.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
The books Donny gave me were real big on safety precautions - y'know, helmets, padding and all that. I beefed up the padding on my elbows 'n' knees, but there was no way I could find a helmet that'd fit me. I figured I'd just have to be extra careful. Which I have been. More or less.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
There was this sewer tunnel that extended over a thousand feet in a straight line. It had a walkway on one side, and that became Mikey's skating tunnel.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It had a brick wall on one side, and raw sewage on the other. Plenty of impetus to not wipe out. I started out going really slow, but picked up speed pretty quick.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
He was good on that thing, but it's not like he never wiped out. I can remember...at least twice, maybe more. Seeing him come back to the lair covered in sewage. He just grumbled and went to the shower. Had to take the skateboard in with him, then clean up his tracks afterwards.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I did worry, for he had no helmet. But I never saw him going very fast, so I simply had faith he would not to anything reckless. He would occasionally scrape a leg, but such injuries are part of the learning process.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Mikey's taken to writing a lot recently, too. He hasn't shown me much, but what I've seen's been pretty good.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
My writing's kinda private. My own thing. I don't mind Sensei or anyone reading it, really, but I didn't really write it for them; I wrote it for me, y'know? So even if they think it sucks, it doesn't matter. (smiling) Because it wasn't for them anyway. 


	7. Raphael

VII. RAPHAEL  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
(grinning) I can't wait to hear what word the other guys pick for me.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Raph is somewhere between a realist and a pessimist. There's probably a word that means that, but I don't know what it is.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
(long pause) "Cynic".  
  
LEONARDO  
  
If you asked me awhile ago, I'd say "dark". (smiling) Or maybe "albatross".   
  
DONATELLO  
  
Mikey looks at our situation, where we are and all, and sees all the great parts of it. Raph looks at it and sees all the problems.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
For the longest time, I didn't think there was something wrong with me. I figured there was something wrong with everyone else. Y'know, didn't they realize how lousy everything was? Why were they all goofy happy all the time?  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It's kinda mean to say, now that he really ain't much like this anymore. But for awhile, early on, Raph figured there was two points of view - his own and the wrong one. There wasn't any room for compromise with Raph.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
He's got what people call an "anger-management problem", but back then, he'd deny it. Oh, he wouldn't deny he had a lot of anger; he would just deny that it was a problem.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Raph probably had the wrong weapons for a guy with his temper. I was always worried he'd lose his temper, stab a guy in the heart, and we'd have a murder on our hands. Luckily, he got himself under control before that ever happened.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
(spinning his sai in his hands) I dunno. I've grown pretty attached to my sai. Leo's worried that I'll stab some guy to death one night, but I think my training's set. I've never cut a guy except in self-defense.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
His attitude finally did got the better of him one night. It...well, it wasn't pleasant.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Raph and me were partnered up on patrol this one night. It'd been pretty quiet, but then we came across these guys - eighteen, nineteen. They were trying to pawn off some crack to some young kids - and I mean young. Junior high. It was like, c'mon, how low can you go? We went in to bust it up, y'know, and hopefully scare 'em straight.   
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I lost it. (sighing, head in hands) No other way to put it.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I was sort of finishing up on one guy. Y'know, I had knocked him down and knocked him around a bit. He finally stumbled to his feet and scurried off. That's the way we normally did it. I turned around, and saw that Raph had the other guy flat on his back. Raph was straddling the other guy's chest, and was slamming both his fists into his face, over and over. I sort of said, "Raph?" and he didn't answer - just kept wailing on him. I finally walked over. Raph had knocked the guy unconscious - he was bleeding pretty bad around the head and face. But Raph never stopped wailing on him. I must've stood there in shock for about half a minute, thinking he'd stop. But he didn't.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I...I literally had no idea what I was doing. I guess I had just let my anger completely consume me, and this guy was just a handy target. I finally felt Michelangelo pulling me off him, and that actually just pissed me off more. I was all set to start in on him, too, until I saw the look on his face. (pause) I've never seen him look scared before. We'd been in all sorts of jams before, and Mikey'd always put a brave face on it. But right then, he was scared to death. (pause) And he was scared of me. (pause) That sort of...it's like I became aware of myself again. Suddenly, I thought, what's wrong? I looked down at my hands, and they were all bloody. (pause) I...think if you'd asked me then how my hands got that way, I wouldn't've been able to tell you. I turned back and looked at that guy, and saw what I had been doing. And it was like, I did that? (pause) And then I got scared, too.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I went to a pay phone 'n' called 911, had 'em send an ambulance around. Then I sort of led Raph back to the lair. He was kinda in this daze.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
You read books or see movies and you hear people saying, "I didn't know what I was doing." I was thought that was such a load of crap. It sounded like such a cop out. Then it happened to me. (pause) Mikey had to sort of steer me home. I kept looking down at my bloody hands. After years of insisting that I could handle it, I now had indisputable evidence that I couldn't.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
It is most difficult and most painful when one's foundation is shaken. Raphael began his long journey back to us that night.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
When we got back, Mikey went straight to his room - he knew I'd have things to discuss with Sensei. I just sat down in front of Splinter - didn't even bother washing my hands first. I sort of took a deep breath and said, "Sensei, you're right. I got a problem." That was my first step. (sighing) Anger management. The hardest enemy I've ever fought has been myself. How pathetic is that? (smiling) But I'm winning.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I had tried to harnass his anger before, but as he did not believe he had a problem, he did not make a true effort to do so. From that night on, he at last became committed to getting himself under control.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I think my major problem was that I'd blow up, and I didn't think it was any big deal. After that night, it seemed obvious that it probably was a big deal. Sensei started getting me to always question my moves, and question my motives. I have to continually ask myself, "Is this the right thing to do? Is this causing problems?" It took awhile, but it's almost second nature now.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
After that night, things started calming down at home. Before, when we'd be sparring, and he'd lose a bout, he'd flip. He'd yell, stomp around, the whole bit. Once he tried tackling Michelangelo when he was heading back to his neutral corner. Splinter would tell him to get himself under control, and he'd calm down a bit, but the next match he lost, it was the same routine. Afterwards, though, it was different. If you beat him, you can still see him get angry, but he'll just walk over to a wall, slam his fists into it, sit there for a few seconds, then turn around, smiling, and say "Good match, Don." (smiling) Which at first scared me more than the tantrums. I thought he was planning to stab me in my sleep.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
He's gotten more mellow as we've gotten older. Thankfully.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Splinter's great at channeling the anger. He says I can't just ignore it, but let it out in constructive ways. (grinning) Sometimes there's not a constructive way available, which is why I hit the wall so much. But usually it just means working myself to collapse building stuff with Donny.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Splinter stuck him with being my assistant, mainly. Some of the stuff that I wanted to build needed four hands. Or he would do the heavy work while I did the small precision work.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I wasn't overjoyed doing it at first, but it did calm me down somewhat. I wasn't great at using tools when we started, but I've gotten quite a bit better. Sensei thinks it's not just the physical stuff, but having something to focus on, that helps push the anger aside. Could be. And when I finish something big - the kitchen set-up, the shower, whatever - yeah, I'll admit, I eat up the kudos with a spoon.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
At first, I wasn't sure it was going to work out. I thought if anything went wrong, he'd just go ballistic and start breaking everything with the hammer or something. But it hasn't. Apparently, it actually does calm him down.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We don't know what the source of his anger was, but I do know what the main target was. Me.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Oh, yeah, Leo and Raph had issues. (grinning) More issues than National Geographic.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
As is ordinarily the case, there were actually problems on both sides. Raphael has a tendency to rebel against authority. And Leonardo could not abide someone questioning his authority. Neither in and of themselves would have been that problematic. But combined, they caused much friction in our lives.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
(shrugging) I was the rebel of the family. I guess every one has one. I got a kick out of saying "no". To Splinter, it wasn't that much of a problem. Partially because he had a lot of experience with dealing with people, so he could let the little stuff go. But when he laid down the law, you knew it. I couldn't get away with anything on Splinter's watch. Leo, on the other hand, didn't know how to react to any of it. He just couldn't take it.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
Raph would question every one of my decisions. And for no other reason than to question it. (sighing) It was aggravating beyond belief.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
(shrugging) What can I say - I liked pushing his buttons.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
The fact that two of my charges were fighting amongst themselves I found most disheartening. I felt such tension within our family would certainly be detrimental, and could actually prove fatal. I attempted to talk to each of them in turn, hoping to get them to understand the importance of harmony in their lives. I could get them to make temporary truces, but I was unable to diffuse the underlying tension, and so the hostilities would return soon afterwards. (sighing) This was the one area in my parenting where I feel that I had truly failed. I believed that this was a problem I should be able to solve, and yet I could not find a solution.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We spar every day, for practice, and there was always tension when it came time for Leo and Raph to square off. Sometimes, some simmering feud between the two would boil over. Leo and Raph got into a few fights. Most would be over quickly - a few smacks, and then they'd retreat to their neutral corners, but one was a knock-down, drag-out fight. They were on the floor wailing on each other. Splinter had to break that one up. One of the few times I ever heard Splinter yell.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Leo and Raph were rolling on the floor, punching each other, and there's Splinter, trying to break it up, shouting, "Stop it! Immediately!" Just watching them made me feel...strange. Not just unhappy, but something else. I couldn't quite figure out what it was. Later that night, when I was trying to get to sleep, it hit me. Working the streets like we did, we came across a lot of families that were heavily messed-up. And I realized, this is what these families gotta deal with every night. This type of fighting. I was kinda worried. What if my family ended up like that? (shrugging, smiling) Didn't, though.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
That night, Splinter sent us all to separate areas for awhile - not just Leo 'n' Raph, Mike 'n' me, too - to cool down, and to think about what had happened.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I always thought that was bogus. Yeah, "time out for Raphael". I guess I was supposed to think about what we had done, but I rarely did. Well, I did, but I would imagine me winning the fight rather than trying to discover a way for it not to happen next time. I spent most of my "time-outs" seething.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
At first, I had to calm down, to center myself, like Splinter taught us. It took a lot of time, but I finally managed it. When I was finally calm, I saw the situation more clearly, sort of like from outside. I could see us arguing, Raph and me, but from an outside viewpoint, it didn't make any sense. It was so damn petty, you know? Why were we fighting? Why were we letting our little differences overshadow all we had in common?  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I didn't want us to fight, really. But in a way, I did, I guess. When we were arguing, it was like... (pause) I don't know. The best answer I can come up with is that it's like I dragged him down to my level. When we fought, Leonardo was angry and hostile, just like me. Maybe misery likes company.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I remembered a history book of Splinter's that he had me read. It said nations often crumble not due to force from without, but due to decay from within. And I wondered if this little feud of ours was keeping us from being as strong as we could be.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
So I was sitting up on the ledge, probably grinding my teeth, and I hear this "Raph?" I look up, and there's Leonardo. And he's...well, he wasn't really crying or anything, but it looked like he was about to. And suddenly all my anger sort of vanished. Just the way he looked weirded me out. I mean, I liked pushing his buttons and all, but I wasn't looking to...mess him up, or anything. It sort of hit me - I did this to him. Leo's a great leader, and a great guy, and because of what I'm doing, he's not anymore.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
I had thought of all this stuff to say. I was going to be logical, I was going to argue, I was going to beg. But when I saw him there, it all left me. I must have stared at him for some time, and finally all I said was, "Raph, let's not fight anymore." That's all I could think of to say. But apparently, that was the right thing to say. Raph sort of looked back at me for a bit, then he came over and said, "All right."  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I don't know who said "I'm sorry" first. The real surprise is that I don't care. We both said it. We hugged, and that was that.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
It's not like suddenly everything was better, and we never fought again. But we never came to blows after that.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
In a way, I suppose I am happy that I was unable to solve this problem for them, as it forced them to solve it themselves. The fact that they did makes me most proud.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I still have smart-assy comments for Leonardo, but usually I just mutter them to myself now. If there really is something worth pointing out, I...well, I try to be nice about mentioning it. (smiling) Sometimes I'm good, and sometimes I'm not.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Raph sort of...held his comments in check. Occasionally, he'll have some smartass comment, but I've learned to let the stray ones go. When he does object to something I did, there's usually a reason for it. Not him just being contrary. I promised to listen when he spoke, and I've done my best to do that.   
  
RAPHAEL  
  
About three months after that happened, Leo was out with mutant flu, and he asked me to lead the other two out on patrol. Rat bastard. (pause, smiling) Sorry, Splinter.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I had a feeling there was something to that. Not that Raph can't lead, but I think he wanted Raph to see what it was like.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
At first, I was all, "Yeah, I'm in charge!" About five minutes later, with Mike and Don looking at me with this, "So, what'da we do now, fearless leader" look in their eyes... Yeah, I start getting this feeling that maybe it ain't so great being in charge. I hadn't really thought out everything I'd have to do. I kinda had to fake it.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Raph wasn't bad as leader at all - a bit hesitant, but that was to be expected. But he looked really worried. Like he had no idea if he was going to last the night.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
They came back from patrol, and I was napping. Raph nudged me awake, and I said, "What? What is it?" He just stared at me for a minute, then said, "I hate you, y'know that?" Then he smacked me lightly on the head and left.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Casey sort of understands where Raph's coming from - they're kinda like brothers under the skin. It was him that gave him the hockey stick and practice balls.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Raph can't make fun of anyone's hobby, ever. He stands in front of a wall and hits the ball against it, over and over. For hours.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I can't explain why it's fun, but it is. I just start smacking the ball against the wall with my stick, and then catching it on the rebound. Leo gets into that "selfless state" while doing martial arts, but I think the closest I've come is playing hockey. I suddenly realize it's hours later. (pausing) I sort of wish I could get into that state while fighting. It must be amazing. 


	8. Life Underground

VIII. LIFE UNDERGROUND  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
As time went on, our section of the sewer kinda changed. Before, it was just an abandoned tunnel that five freaks decided to hole up in. Later on, it looked more like...well, kinda like a home.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We didn't really have a set boundary to where the "sewer" ended and where "our home" began. We just kept expanding outward from the place we first set up.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
I can't remember who first called our home "the lair", but it stuck. (smiling) It sounds like a Raph phrase, so I'll blame him.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
The area where I had first lit a fire ended up being the ideal place for that. The smoke from the fire would dissipate into a main sewer line, and thus would neither stay in our living area, nor indicate our position to people on the surface.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We called that the "main room" or the "family room" - where we always built the fire. Then we built...(frowning) Lemme think. Geez, it's already getting hard to remember. I know the kitchen - or what used to be the kitchen - used to be right next to the main room.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Splinter painted a few paintings just for us, and did a few calligraphy pieces. We hung those on the walls, and that gave it feel more like a home.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We used to prepare food right on the fire. There was a water main there, so we could get water when we needed to. So we had this sort of makeshift kitchen next to the main room, where we kept our bowls and plates and food.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Once we started getting appliances, it became apparent that the original kitchen wasn't going to work. There was only one outlet there. So we set up the kitchen one more room down. The old kitchen became our study room, and we used the one outlet there for light.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
There was a fairly large level space further down from the main room, and that became our dojo.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
The room most certainly was not ideal for a dojo. The floor was concrete, of course, which is most unsuitable for the feet and legs. (smiling) Especially mine. And the ceiling was a bit lower than I would have liked. But it was the best possible area available.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
At least twice, I leapt up during a sparring match, and while bringing my bo around, caught it on the ceiling. That hurts the wrists quite a bit.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It was very roomy - we could all practice in there with no problem. And it wasn't far from the main sluice. That might sound kinda disgusting. Well, it is kinda disgusting, but it meant there was at least a bit more airflow there, so we weren't sweltering in the still air.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
We discovered some electrical outlets in the sewer, and I was quite surprised to find that they were live. I was worried that the power company, or whoever owned the outlets, would notice any heavy power usage, but I decided it was worth the risk to attempt to use a little electricity. With the money I received, I asked Mitake to purchase some things for us - some lights, to begin with.  
  
MITAKE  
  
It was a bit strange. I thought the sewers were an extremely temporary resting place for Yoshi and his charges. But as he started to ask me to buy him things, I realized that he was going to be staying there for the long haul.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I remember the first electrical thing we got were Christmas lights. It was January, and so every store had strings of those small white lights for like a buck. We had Mitake buy...I think it was thirty strands. We kept ten in reserve, and strung up twenty. All around our family room, the kitchen, the dojo, and the walkways between.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
The idea originally was to unplug them when we went to bed, but they were dim enough that we could sleep with them on. So we left them on all the time.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I remember the first night we had those lights. I couldn't fall asleep. I just stared at them. I can't really explain it, but they excited me. It was like the first step in being a real person - having electric light just like everybody else in New York, even if it was just Christmas lights.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Once the lights were up, we didn't need the candles so much anymore. Splinter still likes to light them when he paints - he says it centers him - but we weren't relying on them just to see. That was really cool.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
As the money accumulated, I next asked Mitake to buy us some used appliances.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I remember when we got our first oven. We were so stoked - dude, pizza every night! But then we realized we couldn't just shove it down a manhole - it was too big. We had to wait until a dry patch of weather, and then Mitake had to deliver it all the way over to one of the exit sluices. We put it on a little wooden frame with casters, and pushed the darn thing several miles to get it home. (smiling) We really wanted that oven. And we did celebrate with pizza that night. Really late, though.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Mitake, Casey - April, you too - everyone had their ears to the ground for us. Whenever somebody was getting rid of something, they immediately thought, "Could the mutants use this?"   
  
MITAKE  
  
An old friend of mine was buying a new refrigerator because the power kept cutting out to his old one. I asked if I could have it, which he thought was a bit strange, but he did give it to me.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We had to get the fridge down the same way. Compared to the fridge, the oven was a piece of cake.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We were marching along, rolling the fridge along the walkways. I remember we were all singing some goofy song we were making up. "We're gonna have....coooold fooooood..."  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Oh, my God, I completely forgot about that! (smiling, eyes closed) "We're gonna have...coooold fooooood...."  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We were turning a corner when one of the casters on the platform broke, and the fridge started slipping off the platform. We all grabbed for it, but it ended up in the sluice. Along with Mikey and Don.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Mikey and I fell into the sluice along with the fridge. It wasn't too deep - somewhere between two and three feet - but that almost makes it worse, because the less water, the more raw sewage there is in there.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I sent Raph back to the lair to get some rope and some old pallets.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Leo told us to hop out, but I decided against it. I knew someone was going to have to tie the rope around the fridge, and that would mean getting back in. I just hopped up on the fridge, banged my heels against it, and started singing that "cold food" song again.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I joined Mikey on the fridge, and told him I really hoped I could fix this thing after all we went through to get it. I mean, imagine lugging a huge heavy thing miles to your home, falling in the sludge, and then finding out you couldn't make it work. Luckily, it ended up being a pretty easy fix.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I got back with the rope and pallets, we heaved that fridge out of there, and managed to get it back to the lair. Leo and I rinsed it off outside the lair while Don and Mike hit the showers.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I remember showering the sewage off, so I guess Don had already built the shower by then.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
It's not like we needed to shower every day. We lived in a sewer, for God's sake. But you get sewage on ya, trust me, ya want a way to get it off.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We must have planned on how to build that shower for a week - how it would work, where to put it.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
The actual building of the shower wasn't hard at all. We attached a grating over a sluice. I put in a small water heater nearby, and attached a nozzle with a couple of levers - one for heat, one for water pressure. Instant shower.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Donatello's shower worked extremely well. The water heater was somewhat small, and so I had to learn to shower quite a bit quicker than I was accustomed to.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I was showering in it once, and must have been really zoning out. I took a step away from the nozzle, and almost stepped right off the side. (smiling) About a week later, Don and Raph had installed a railing around it.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Once I had begun selling my paintings, and starvation no longer seemed an immediate concern, we began to settle somewhat more into a routine.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We get up early. Six, six thirty. If we had a late patrol, we'd get to sleep until seven or so.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
From the get-go, Sensei trained us hard. No slacking. Up early, work hard, study hard, to bed early.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Right after we'd get up, we'd stretch out, then do tai-chi. That was sort of a warm-up. Then karate. Then weapon training. Then sparring. Then we ran this sort of obstacle course that we set up through the sewers.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It was something we all worked on. It was fun. You know, leap across this sluice, climb this rope, and so forth.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Every once in awhile, one of us would get an idea to expand it, or make it more difficult. Most of my ideas were shot down - too potentially dangerous. (shrugging and smiling) They probably were.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
After we ran the course, we showered and had a quick lunch. Then it was study time.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I had never taught academics before - only martial arts. For a year or so, I had to teach them collectively, regardless of their skill level - something I did not approve of, but I couldn't think of another way. After some time, they could start teaching themselves, and I could let them continue at their own pace.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Raph had a tough time of it. You could tell he dreaded the afternoons.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
It pissed me off. Splinter would teach us something, and I'd be like, "Huh?" No clue. Sensei coulda been speaking Swahili. But the others were all like, "OK, got it, next." I felt so stupid, because it seemed like every little thing had to be explained to me. The others...well, they tried to hide it, but you know they were impatient. Like, why do we have to wait for this moron to catch up?  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Actually, I give Raph a ton of credit. He's on the same grade level as Leo and Mike, but he got there by sheer determination. He had to work twice as hard to learn half as much.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I do believe it likely that Raphael has a learning disability of some sort, but he compensates extremely well. He often has to learn a different way of learning things than the others, but always he finds a way.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
(grinning) I ain't too bright, apparently, but I'm stubborn and work my tail off. And if you do that enough, you can learn enough to keep up with the smart ones.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Donatello was the other way around. Splinter couldn't teach him fast enough.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Sometimes, I could make the leap to the end of the lesson. He'd start setting up a math concept, and suddenly I'd see it clearly all the way to the end.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
It was only a few months before Donatello was on his own. He would finish textbooks in a day or so. I had problems getting enough material for him to learn.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
That's when I started itching to go to the library. (smiling) I figured I could just get a ton of books and just suck them dry. Sometimes, though, I'd finish up, and there'd be no more books to start. When that happened, I'd sit in with Raph - try to help him out.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I appreciated that. Donny's great at explaining stuff in different ways - which I like, because if you give me four or five ways to get something, I can usually latch onto one of them. But at the same time, it makes me feel even dumber. I mean, he can afford the spare time to try to help me out.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
After studying, it was time to do our chores. For me, that'd mean starting dinner, and the others would start cleaning or whatever. We'd have dinner, do the dishes, then, if we weren't going on patrol, it was personal time. Whatever we wanted to do. Generally, I'd go boarding, Donatello would go tinker on his workbench, Raph would smack his ball around with his hockey stick, and Leo would practice with his swords.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Early on, Splinter used to tell us a story, or read us one. Even after we all knew how to read, we all loved sitting around the candles listening to him tell stories. I kinda miss him doing that now.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Splinter should read storytime over at the library. When he reads, you completely lose yourself.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We didn't have a TV - well, we did for a bit. Didn't work too well. Only got two channels, and neither of them were very clear. And Splinter wasn't a fan. He thought it was distracting to our lessons. I thought that was a cop-out - I didn't suck at math because of the TV, right? I sucked at math 'cause I sucked at math. But Splinter didn't want it around. So we had to make do with the radio.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I found this old clock radio, and brought it back to see if Don could get it working again. It took him a while to fix it up, but he got it going finally. He didn't fix the clock part, so it never did tell time - it just said 10:37 all the time. We used to listen to it quite a bit, especially during chore time and personal time. Of course, we never agreed much about what to listen to. I wanted rock, Raph liked classic rock and metal, Donny wanted jazz, Leo wanted that new age stuff, and Splinter preferred classical.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We usually ended up listening to the oldies station, since none of us had a really gripe with it. But I did get to work on fixing up little radios for all of us, so we could listen to whatever we wanted when we were in our rooms.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Our living area kept getting bigger, but we always have stayed two to a room. That was Splinter's idea.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I thought that they would feel more secure if they had someone else sleeping near them. My room was not that far away, either.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We paired up - Leo and Don were in one room, and Mikey and me were across the hall. I don't remember why it was like that, but that's the way it's been since. Even now, that's how we are. Seems a bit strange. I mean, Mikey and I are almost complete opposites - he's the optimist, I'm the pessimist. But it's worked out pretty good - we get along OK.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
It's never been a problem. Sure, there's times I want to be alone, but there were plenty of places to go in the lair where I could be alone if I really wanted to.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
Splinter slept on this beat-up futon. It was in pretty bad shape, but it sure beat what we had.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Beds aren't cheap, and Splinter wasn't making enough to really buy us all beds. So we sort of had to jerry-rig something for all of us.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We found a bunch of old rags next to some warehouse - I mean, there must have been a ton of them. Splinter had us bring them back to the lair. We tossed the really messed-up ones, and washed the rest of them the best we could. Then Donny built these smallish wooden frames, we filled each one up with rags, placed an old sleeping bag on top, then an old blanket on top of that. Believe it or not, that's what we slept on.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
They weren't the most comfortable things in the world, but it certainly was better than sleeping on the concrete, which we had to do at first.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
To be honest, I kinda miss them now. I could sleep on my back, sort of burrow my shell down into the rags, but keep my head, arms and legs up. Can't do that on a regular bed, so sleeping on my back's out now.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
There were kinda lame, but it worked well. It was warm enough. The sewers tend to be pretty stable, temperature-wise. It's like forty-five, fifty degrees down there year round. The few times it got really cold, we just got in the sleeping bags.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We didn't have any clothes for several years. We spent our early days running around naked as the day we were...mutated. (laughing) And why not? No one could see us. Our shells hide everything, anyway.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
When we started heading topside, Splinter insisted we start wearing clothes. Made sense - when in Rome 'n' all. But it sure felt weird, 'cause none of us were used to it. It was sort of like walking around with a shirt over your face.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
When it came to clothes, as always, it was all about economy. Whenever we needed clothes, we hit the thrift stores.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Let's just say whatever clothes we get aren't gonna be the hippest things. But who cares, y'know? People were gonna stare at us no matter what we put on, anyway.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Extra large T-shirts fit around our shells. They're a bit long, but we can tuck them in. It's the jeans that are ridiculous. I mean, no one makes a pair of jeans with a 34-inch waist and a 24-inch inseam. So we have to chop them short just past the knees. Or we wear shorts, which on us don't look that short.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We don't look much "better" in our clothes than out of them. I mean, it's not like people aren't going to realize we're mutants just because we've got clothes on. It's almost like a concession to humans - "Yeah, we'll wear clothes because you do." But we've gotten used to it.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Splinter was making decent money from his paintings, but it was irregular, and there was no way of knowing if he'd suddenly be unable to sell more. So we tended to hoard what we had, and spend as little as possible.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Mr Li let us come in to his store and do our grocery shopping just before he closed, when the fewest folks were around.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Splinter used to do all the shopping, but with me doing more and more of the cooking, I started going with him. Soon we were all going.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We were like kids at the grocery store...well, I guess we were kids at the grocery store! Y'know, "Buy me this, buy me that". Splinter was pretty firm, though - if we whined too much, we didn't come back the next time.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Saving money was always key, so we grew up eating on the cheap. Plus, Splinter wasn't sure what our digestive systems would take. Mostly anything, as it turns  
  
out, but we tended to play it cheap 'n'safe. Fruits, vegetables, cereal, rice, pasta. Dinner was chicken or pizza, usually, or pasta. Once in a while, I'd go nuts and cook steak, or bake a cake or something.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
As money's gotten a bit better, we've expanded our menu somewhat. A few times, we've even gone out to eat - to hell with people staring. But I'd still rather have Michelangelo's pizza than anything else in the world.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Sewer living wasn't that bad. The only time it really became a problem was during those heavy rainstorms several years back.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Man, that was horrible. It rained nonstop for, what, a month?   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
After the few days of heavy rain, I began to worry. Upon hearing the radio station forecast nothing but rain for the foreseeable future, I decided that it would be prudent to take some precautions.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Sensei had Mitake get us a ton of sandbags. Literally, a ton. Actually, it might have been two tons. We had to try to carry them one by one through the sluice back to the lair - which was a nightmare, because the water was already on its way up.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Ever slog through water up to your knees carrying a huge sandbag? (smirking) I can't recommend it.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We started sandbagging all of our entrances, almost all the way to the top. The only way out was to crawl to the top of the tunnel and squeeze your way out.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
Master Splinter gave us some money, and told us to stock up on we called "emergency food". That was stuff we didn't need to refrigerate or really even prepare. Lots of trail mix, granola bars, fruit and vegetables, that sort of thing. We came back with bags and bags with it, just in case. It ended up being just enough, barely.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I was like, come on, what are we doing this for? It took a few days, but I found out, all right.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
At the end of the first week, if we wanted to go topside, we'd have to either wade through waist-deep water, or crawl along the top of the sewer tunnels. By the end of the second week, we could only get out by swimming...and we were looking at some mondo currents. It wasn't really swimming - we basically jumped in the sluice and tried to grab the ladder as we swept by. If you missed, you ended up five blocks down.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Splinter finally said "enough" and sandbagged the entrance all the way to the top. We had to block off our shower and bathroom, too, since they emptied out onto the sluice.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I'll admit it if no one else did: I was worried. Not really for me - we can handle ourselves in water pretty good. But Splinter can't. Worse came to worst, we would've had to try to swim out of there, and we didn't know if Splinter could handle that. We would've had to swim out carrying him, and I didn't know if I could do that, either.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
It was a bit like sealing yourself into a box underwater. Air still got in, but not much - it got pretty stuffy in there. And everything leaked. Lots of the Christmas lights shorted out.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I woke up one morning yelling, because a leak had appeared over my bed while I was sleeping.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
We decided to consolidate. We brought our sleeping bags and Splinter's futon in the main room. It was just that and the kitchen. And to get to the kitchen, we had to leap over sandbags, wade through the study room, and then leap over more sandbags. Basically, we sat in the main room listening to the radio and talking.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We still did tai chi every morning, and we added some meditation exercises afterwards, but that was it - no sparring, no weapons training.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We needed something to help pass the time besides just staring at the radio. So I turned the radio to the classical station, and Splinter would tell us stories, like he used to when we were first mutated.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I had forgotten how much my sons enjoyed hearing stories. I told as many stories as I could remember - ancient Japanese stories, historical stories, stories my sensei had told me.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Splinter was resting after one of those marathon storytelling sessions, and Michelangelo said, "I don't suppose any of you want to hear a story I made up."   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I'd been writing stories in my head for years, but I'd never written one down, or told anyone about them. But I was going nutzoid. I love my family and everything, but I was getting tired of being stuck in the main room with them 24/7. Sensei's stories took my mind off things, but he couldn't talk forever. So finally I got up the nerve. I thought about it for a couple days, then just told it.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Mikey was no Splinter, mind you, but his story was good. It was about a classic Japanese samurai that found himself in New York somehow. I remember getting pretty involved in it. After he was done, we lay on our backs, chatting about it - you know, how would the story go if they guy had done this instead of that.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
It was kinda cool to see Mikey being creative like that.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I was pleasantly surprised hearing Michelangelo's story. He showed much promise, and from then on, I made an effort to encourage my sons' creativity whenever the opportunity arose.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We finally heard on the radio that the rain had stopped. Not that you'd know it where we were. It took a full day before everything stopped leaking, and over a week before the levels in the sewer got back to normal. But we could at least brave heading back out again.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
The damage from the flood was thankfully less than I had feared. I did lose the painting I had been working on, and many of our lights were ruined.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
We had to rebuild Mikey's bed, and most of the lights were shot, but a lot of things just needed drying off. We had puddles in some rooms for weeks.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We had to bail out the study room. Leo would dip this bucket into the room, hand it to me, who handed it to Splinter, who handed it to Donny, who handed it to Mike, who dumped it into the sluice outside the entrance. Then we'd hand the bucket back to Leo. Over and over again. It took hours - boring as hell.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We started singing every song that came on the radio, trying to break the monotony. That "bye bye Miss America" song came on, and we were hosed - too many words. We just started making up words to it, laughing, almost spilling the water as we passed the bucket along.   
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Finally got that room empty and almost dry, and our first job after that was plugging all the leaks in that ceiling.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Our study desk was kinda warped after that, but y'know, so what? We could still study at it.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We moved all the sandbags to an extra room down the way, just in case we needed them again. Thankfully, we never did.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
There's a few human platitudes that come to mind - "you can get used to anything" and "after a while, you'll miss everything". True on both counts - we got used to the sewer, and in a way, I do miss it. 


	9. The Foot pt 1

IX. THE FOOT (PART I)  
  
Author's note: for this project, I interviewed four former members of the Foot. All of them have since put this part of their past behind them, but for fear of incriminating themselves, at their request, I refer to them only by number.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I grew more and more desperate to find things to read. I couldn't get enough books, so I started bringing home old magazines and newspapers. Everyone else started reading them, too.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
They were almost never current. The papers were usually a day or two old, and the magazines were weeks or months out of date. But that hardly mattered to us. We weren't reading them to stay current, really.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I read several articles in the New York newspapers that stated that there was a marked increase in burglaries, kidnappings and muggings in the city. I at first did not take much notice of this. It was regrettable, but it did not seem relevant to us. One day, I read an article - an attempted kidnapping had been broken up by the police. They printed a picture of a perpetratior. Although I did not know the man, I instantly recognized the uniform he wore. It bore the crest of the Foot clan, which in Japan had been led by Oruku Sake.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
At first, I thought it was just coincidence - I mean, it was just a foot in a white circle. Doesn't mean that there's a link, right? Splinter wasn't convinced.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I suggested that maybe some New York punks had simply copied the Foot uniform. You know, they saw someone with it, and thought it was cool.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Michelangelo's theory seemed sound - it did seem very unlikely that Sake would travel so far to spread his evil. But then on the television, we saw them in battle. It was most assuredly the Foot style - not as refined, but still recognizable as such.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
At first, we were just sort of "Geez, how weird", y'know? But Sensei didn't let it drop.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
The police and city were obviously unaware of what they were dealing with. The Foot in Japan...they were not immoral so much as amoral. They were not criminals, but neither did they believe in purity of mind and soul, as my sensei had taught me. With them, the fighting skills were everything. So it was not surprising to me to see the Foot take a turn towards evil.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Sensei would read an article on some crime, something where it was clear that the Foot was behind it. Or he'd hear something on the radio. He kep saying, "Something must be done."  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I remember him saying, "I must do something." It took me awhile before I realized he was serious.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
When Sensei said he wanted to take these sleazoids out, we all said we wanted to help. (smiling) He wasn't prepared to hear that.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
While I appreciated the offer for help, I did not think they understood. They had to realize that this was an extremely dangerous game to play. Down in the sewers, we might be isolated but we would be safe. If we began fighting the Foot, some of us would definitely get injured, and there was a chance one or more of us would get killed.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Our opinion was that if Sensei thought that they should be stopped, then they should be stopped. If he was going to take them on, the least we could do was offer our assistance.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Looking back, I don't know really why we wanted to do this. It sure would've been easier, and safer, to let New York deal with it on their own. But we were starting to feel that New York was our city, too. If we wanted to be part of it, perhaps we needed to fight for it.   
  
FOOT SOLDIER 1  
  
I joined the Foot during my freshman year of high school. Even though I was good at martial arts even back then, I didn't immediately graduate into that circle. Instead, I got to hang around and play video games and stuff. They told me to keep training, and some day, I'd be able to help them out. That was their way.   
  
FOOT SOLDIER 2  
  
You ever read Tom Sawyer? You know that part where Tom gets everyone to paint the fence? That's kinda how it worked. They made it sound like there was nothing cooler than helping the Foot - hell, living for the Foot. And everyone sort of believed it. Soon, you were begging to begin training.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 3  
  
I saw a TV show on religious cults last month, and about halfway through, I started to get this creepy feeling. It was like, wait a second! The Foot was a cult!  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 2  
  
The Shredder was in charge. We didn't see him much, and when we did, you kinda felt like he was honoring you with his presence. Like, he was that cool.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 3  
  
We had this leader - and despite his mask and everything, he had that...I don't know. No one dared disobey him. And we'd do anything for him. Just like a cult.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 2  
  
We saw him just rip a guy to shreds once - he didn't die, but we all thought he was gonna.   
  
FOOT SOLDIER 1  
  
I can't point to a day when I said, "OK, I'm gonna be a criminal." It didn't work like that. And I guess my case was sort of normal - it was kind of a slow process. First you hang around, sort of develop a loyalty to the team. Then they have you help out on some things, and before you know it, there you are. One day I looked up, and I was in the Foot.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 4  
  
Everyone had their own thing. For a while, I was in protection. You'd go collect protection money from certain people. If you didn't, the muscle'd go lean on them. There were guys who drove getaway trucks, guys who did the martial arts, guys who worked chop shop - it was all broken up, and it all worked smooth.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
It took us about a week before we convinced Splinter that we were serious about helping him out. One night, he just stared at us, one at a time, and finally said, "So be it. Tomorrow, I shall begin your training anew." We weren't sure what that meant then, but the next day, we found out, all right.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It wasn't exactly like we were slacking before. But suddenly, we were training extra hard, and extra long. Splinter cut study time down so we could train more.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Spinter's training was coming fast and furious. We worked our ever-lovin' tails off. But we didn't mind, 'cause now we had a new sense of purpose.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
When I first began my sons' training, it was simply to give them exercise, to train their minds, and perhaps for self-defense in the event that they were attacked. But then I found it necessary to change the focal point of my training, emphasizing the art of ninjitsu. They responded by learning faster, moving quicker, and fighting better than I had ever dared hope. My original thought was that, with some training, my sons could be somewhat beneficial aiding me in my battle against the foot. As the training progressed, I came to the realization that my sons would actually be a more formidable opponent to the Foot than myself.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Sensei had shifted us over to ninja training - hitting quick and hard, then vanishing. He had us practice running away and hiding over and over.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
That seemed kinda dumb to me at first. I mean, if we were so damn superior, why bother running away? But then I saw that that's how ninjas operate. Element of surprise. (smiling) Hit 'em 'n' quit, as James Brown says. It's what made us so successful.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
When we were coming to the close of our intense training, I had to repair Michelangelo's bed - the frame had come apart, and the rags had spilled out. We were going back through them, when suddenly Mike jumped up and ran out.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I took this orange rag, ran down the hall, grabbed some scissors and cut some holes in it. Then I put it on and went back to Don.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
He had this orange mask on. "Look - I'm a real ninja now. Now no one can tell who I am." We both cracked up - I mean, like that mask was going to keep anyone from recognizing him. I said something like, "Who are you? And what have you done with Michelangelo?" We laughed so hard, the others came in to see what was so funny.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We were like, hey, make me one, too. So Mikey made one for each of us.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It was just a joke at first, but we actually wore them to battles for some time. (shrugging) Just one of those goofy things.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I realized I could not simply teach my sons how to fight, and then assume they were prepared for battle. Thus I had to give them a few demonstrations.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
After we'd been drilled for some time, Splinter took us topside to observe him in action. It was no problem finding Foot to fight then - if you waited in an alleyway long enough, one would come around. We hid up on the rooftops and watched how he broke up their actions, then scurried away. Even with his bad foot, he was incredible at it.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
(smiling) I tell ya, a couple times, I wanted to start cheering - he was amazing. These Foot guys would look at him, kinda laugh at him, and close in. Less than a minute later, they were all running away - or at least trying to.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
After a few demonstrations, I had them aid me in a few ninja attacks.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
To start off with, we were on back-up detail more than anything. We'd be covering Splinter's back in case backups arrived, which they never did.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
It was exciting, helping Splinter out, but it was also kinda boring. He was doing all the work, and if I was lucky, all I'd get in was one hit as they ran off.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
We began learning some of the more practical aspects of ninja fighting. We always chose different alleyways to start off in. We would usually escape up to the rooftops first instead of immediately going down into the sewers. We hoped that would keep them from linking us directly to there. We'd go at different times at night, so they'd never know when to expect us.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
This continued for a couple of weeks - we fought a few nights, took the odd night off. Then one night, they apparently had started playing it smart.   
  
FOOT SOLDIER 2  
  
A few guys would come back with their faces kicked in, or with a messed-up leg. And they'd say some large mouse in a bathrobe had attacked them. At first, we were like, "What the hell you talking about?" But more and more guys came back with the same story.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 1  
  
Shredder didn't know what was going on, but he sure as heck didn't like it. At first, he'd just smack around the guys that came back like that - call them weak, said they didn't deserve to be Foot, the whole deal. But when some of his best fighters came back with the same story, he decided there was something to this thing, after all.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 4  
  
The Shredder gathered us all together - told us there was some guy dressing up like a big rat, attacking his fighters. We all started laughing, 'til he gave us this stare. I tell ya - Shredder can shut up anyone with a look. He said he wanted this guy out of the way - the one who would bring in this guy's outfit would be rewarded.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 1  
  
A few guys just ran out looking for him - they didn't seem to realize that this rat guy was a real threat. The few that found him got their butts kicked. But my group leader played it smart. He got us all walkie-talkies, and he said if we found him, don't attack, don't retreat. Stall. And call in the rest of us.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
The Foot had apparently been practicing what to do in case I attacked. On this particular evening, they intentionally slowed the battle down. They effectively stalemated the battle. I should have realized what was happening, but I did not. I thought that they were simply trying to outthink me. Soon, a large group of Foot soldiers arrived, and only then did I realize I had allowed myself to be outnumbered and trapped.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
They surrounded Splinter, and the lead guy said, "You're goin' down, freak." I was about to ask the others if we should do something when Leonardo leapt into the fray.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I hardly knew what I was doing. I didn't even unsheath my swords - just started swinging them, sheaths and all, at this guys' heads and feet. While I was doing this, I shouted out directions to my brothers.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
It was...wow. It was freaky, scary, and cool - all at the same time. Leonardo was just a monster out there. Before they could even react, he was yelling stuff to us between moves. "Mike, with sensei! Don - cut the retreat! Raph - take the side!", which...it hardly makes sense, but we all immediately knew what he meant. I leapt in, drew my sai, and started kicking butt.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It was like a blur. It was probably longer than a minute, but not much more. We suddenly stopped, because there's no one left standing but us. I remember looking at my bros, and they all had this crazed look in their eyes. I thought that was weird. Didn't occur to me until later that I got that look, too.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I was utterly stunned. One second, it appeared hopeless, and I hoped my sons could help me escape. Three minutes later, their first battle is complete, won so quickly, and so decisively! But I knew we must not tarry, so I annnounced, "Scatter!", and they all ran off in opposite directions.   
  
FOOT SOLDIER 1  
  
We thought we had it planned perfectly. We'd take this guy in the rat suit down, and that'd be the end of that. Then some guys in turtle costumes show up. And they just annihilated us. I could hardly walk for two weeks. My friend was out cold for a full day.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 2  
  
We were like, what the hell? Guys dressing up as mascots and stopping us cold? It didn't make sense.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 4  
  
I thought the Shredder was mad before, but that weren't nothin' compared to how he looked then. He just listened to (name) when he told him about these turtle guys, and he just got quieter and quieter. Finally, he got up, smacked him hard across the face, and stormed out. We didn't see him again for days.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
We did not go out the following night. Instead, I held a small celebration in honor of my son's first victory.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Splinter served us warm sake. He had had sake before, but had never given us any. (smiling) Not surprisingly, he only gave us a little. But still, it was really cool.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We honestly amazed ourselves. We knew we could fight OK, but we weren't expecting that complete domination. With some exceptions, that's how our fighting went from then on.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Don't get me wrong - they had some guys who could fight. But those battles just took longer. We never lost a fight against the Foot.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We went out as a group of five a few more times, and then Sensei tells us he's not going to go out anymore.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I decided to remove myself from the battles for a few reasons. First of all, the fighting was aggravating my ankle. I found it necessary to bind it tighter, and I was limping more. And that was another reason - when it came time to vanish, I was easily the slowest one to leave. Without me there, my sons could disappear from the scene in a matter of a few seconds.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
It worried me to be without Sensei. But after the first few battles, it was clear we knew what we were doing.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
He did come out with us a few times - make sure we knew what we were doing. But after two, three of those, he just stayed in the lair.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
(smiling) This perhaps was worse. Although I feel I did the right thing, I also worried a great deal. I had faith in my son's fighting skills, but one cannot help but worry when your sons are putting themselves in danger.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
It was the four of us for a while, but the battles ended up being majorly one-sided. We'd run into two Foot soldiers, take them out in seconds flat, then leave. And Raphael was starting to be a pain.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I thought Leo was being a wuss. We'd take out two nobodies, and then we'd take off. I wanted to wait for the reinforcements to show up and kick their tails, too, but Leo wasn't having it.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Raph didn't get it. This wasn't some sort of game - see how many Foot you could beat up. It was war. And we were fighting it with guerilla tactics.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Splinter finally came up with a good solution - he broke us up into two teams.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Since my sons were ending their battles so quickly, I decided to try fighting on two fronts.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Problem solved. Leo and me were one team, usually, and Don and Raph were the other. A few times, just to break it up, it was Raph and me. (smiling) It never was Don and me, 'cause that woulda left Leo and Raph together, and they weren't getting along too good then.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
It worked pretty well, for awhile. Soon, we stopped seeing so many Foot soldiers walking alone. They were always in groups of four or more. We could still take them out, though.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
A few times, we were heavily outnumbered. We still might have won, but Sensei warned us not to take chances - if there was too many of them, run.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I hated running without giving all of them a little thrashing, but Don kept me in line. "He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day," he said. And he was right. (smiling) But you know how much I hate it when someone else is right.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We didn't always come home with our heads held high. We all got bruises, a couple black eyes. Raph and I both got cut up a bit one night - we tangled with some guys with swords. We still won, of course, but we sat out for a few days 'til we healed up.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Slowly, I felt we were making a presence known. And as the Foot turned their focus to us, they turned their focus away from crimes against others, which was most heartening.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 1  
  
My group ran into them again a few weeks later. Not the rat, but two of the turtles. Late in the battle, one of them had dropped his bo stick, and I sort of dove at him from the side. I got him on the ground, and we wrestled around a bit. Then he got in a good shot at my neck, and I was out for the count. As soon as I came to, I knew I had to talk to the Shredder right away. He of course wasn't happy that we had lost yet again, but I told him I had information. I told him I had this one guy down, and I grabbed his legs, shell, and face before he took me out. (pausing) I was expecting it to feel like plastic, or spandex or something. But his face and legs felt rough and scaly. And it gave like...well, like there was muscle underneath. And the shell felt hard and smooth. (pausing) And the reason he got a good shot at me was that I managed to look him straight in the eye, from a few inches away. And I froze. Because even after feeling him, I still assumed this was a guy in a costume. But his eyes didn't look like a guy in a costume. They didn't look human. (pausing) I told the Shredder, "This is going to sound crazy, I know, but I don't think these are guys in costumes. I think that's really how they are." 


	10. Friends and Acquaintances

X. FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Upon reflection, I realize now that by allowing my sons to join me in my battle against the Foot...they were then introduced to the world at large. (pausing) Perhaps by doing so, I was unconsciously pushing them forward. Because, deep down, I knew that once they had observed the outside world, they would not be content to live in the sewers their entire lives.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I tried to stay focused on the task at hand, but it was hard. I remember sitting on the rooftops, waiting for Sensei to start a battle...and I was staring up at the stars - well, what stars you can see in the middle of New York. I could lose myself doing that. Suddenly, I realized how...huge the world was. So much out there to learn, y'know?  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Before we took to the streets, Splinter tried to prepare us for what we'd there. But that was a lot of territory to cover. I mean, there's gangs, prostitutes, pushers, police, the homeless, people of different races, ages, beliefs. It just goes on and on. He skipped over some parts - not on purpose, just because there's so much. When we got out there, it was still kind of a shock.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We were focused on kickin' some Foot, but while we were doing that, we also ran into folks who needed help. Sometimes it was the Foot's doing, and sometimes it wasn't.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
My sons encountered people in distress, which presented a dilemma. Should they offer assistance? To do so would run counter to their ninja training, which demanded that they remain invisible at all times. And yet we did not feel it was right to leave people in peril if we could assist in some way. (pausing) We discussed this issue at some length.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We couldn't really come up with an answer to that. We all had different takes on it. Mikey was all for helping everyone, and Leo didn't think we should help anyone. The rest of us fell somewhere in between.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
I didn't think we should get involved. That sounds kinda mean now, but I just thought we had enough problems without taking on someone else's. Plus I thought it was dangerous to draw any attention to ourselves.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
One of our first nights in teams, I was paired with Raph. We came across some Foot soldiers hijacking a van. After we took them out...(smiling)...we found this woman passed out by the front of the van. [That'd be me. - ed] I decided I couldn't just leave you lying there, so I convinced Raph that we should take you back to the lair.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I was like, no way. We can't go taking humans down to our place. But he was stubborn. I guess he was right - we couldn't just leave you there, passed out in an alley. Nowadays, we'd just call 911, but that never occurred to us. So it looked like we were gonna have to take you back. We picked you up and carried you down to the sewers. All the way back to the lair, all I could think was, "This is insane. Leo's gonna blow a gasket."  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I certainly was not prepared for my sons to bring home an unconscious woman. However, I decided that whatever the story was behind such an action might wait. Our more immediate concern was to take care of you and your injuries.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Sensei immediately put us both to work. He had us move his futon into the main room, get some tea ready, stuff like that. We were about done with that when Leo and Don came back.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
Don and I got back to the lair, and I saw pretty much the last thing I expected - Sensei's futon in the main room, with a woman lying on it. My first thought was that we had been discovered, but Mikey told me that he had brought her home.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
(grinning) I was right - Leo flipped. "You brought her here? Are you insane?"   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I knew Leo would be upset, but I didn't have any idea he'd bug out like that.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Splinter broke it up before it really got going, though.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Splinter was pretty short with us. He said, "If any of you wish to argue about this, you must do so elsewhere. We have an injured woman to look after."  
  
LEONARDO  
  
That sort of shut me up pretty quick. As usual, he was right - it wasn't the time to fight.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Your injuries were fairly minor. A few scrapes, and perhaps a mild concussion.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
After Splinter sort of snapped at Leo, he just sat in the corner and stared at this woman.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I was trying to examine my emotions, like Sensei taught us. There were a lot to sort through. I felt Michelangelo had put us in danger, and felt upset that I wasn't consulted - I guess that was my vanity showing through. You know, "I'm the leader, you should check with me" and all that. But there was something else, and it took me awhile to figure it out. (pausing) I felt like our home was...violated in some way. This had always been a place just for us, and now there was this human here. (pausing) I found out I had built up some anti-human prejudice. I hadn't even realized it. (pausing) That took some work to get over.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
After some time, you began to regain consciousness, and I attempted to prepare you for what you would see.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We started crowding around you, but Splinter waved us back. We had to watch from the sidelines.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
He was trying to set the scene for you, and he was great. I mean, there was a lot to prepare you for, but he got it down in just a few sentences. Something like "Do not attempt to open your eyes just yet. You have received a blow to your head in an attempted mugging. We have brought you somewhere safe where you may recover. My sons and I live down here because we do not look like most humans. You may be somewhat alarmed by our appearance, but please do not panic. We do not wish you any harm."  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
You finally open your eyes, you see Splinter, and you freak. (smiling) You told us later that it wasn't his appearance really, but because you kinda were scared of rats. [This is the understatement of the year. - ed] And you wake up looking at Splinter - what're the odds?  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We calmed you down fairly quickly. (grinning) I guess turtles don't freak you out as much as rats.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Mikey was the only one who recognized you - and not from TV, 'cause we didn't have one then. He remembered you from those billboards that used to have your picture on them.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I suddenly said, "Hey, aren't you that woman on the Channel 6 billboard?" I recognized your face, but I don't think I'd ever read the billboard, really, so I didn't know that you were on the news.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We spent the night swapping stories. Actually, it was loads of fun to have someone new to talk to. We probably bored you to tears. We finally crawled into bed real late.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
By the end of the night, I no longer felt threatened by you. (smiling) You were nice. And fun to be with. And that was...enlightening.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
The next morning, I made you a quickie breakfast, and then we took you back topside. It was actually fun. Probably not so much for you, since you had that bump on your head, and had to meet the giant rat, but for us, it was great.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
It was my assumption that once you returned topside, we would not see you again. Instead, you became a most welcome friend and ally.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
When we took you to the ladder back to the streets, Mikey said, "Keep in touch!" We all kind of laughed at that. We didn't really think you would. But you did.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We had two major changes as a result of your little visit. One, Leonardo had me make everyone two-way radios, so we could stay in touch while we were on patrol. And second, we decided if we ever had injured bystanders, we'd call 911, and let the paramedics sort it out.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
(smiling) You meet some interesting folks in the alleys of New York.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We weren't the only ones striking back against the Foot, as it ended up.  
  
CASEY JONES  
  
My real name's Kevin Collinsworth, but if anyone calls me that on the phone, I hang up. It's either a bill collector or my ma. My friends started calling me KC in school, and that really started to stick when I started playing baseball. Y'know, Casey at the bat and all that. (smiling) But just for the record, I hate that Grateful Dead song. Anyway, after school, I got in the minor leagues, played a few years, but then blew out my knee. Had no clue what I was gonna do after that. Finally decided to open a sporting goods store out in my old stomping grounds. I was sure I was gonna fall flat on my face, but actually it did OK. OK enough that I didn't starve, anyway.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 4  
  
The protection game was perhaps the smoothest part of the Foot organization. One group would go and sort of explain the deal to the shop owners - you know, pay so much money each month, and your place stays safe. They would also tell them what to look for next month. A second group - that was the group I was in - would go around and collect the money. That was the easiest job in the world. We never said anything - just walked in with some sort of identifying mark. We'd all have Colorado Rockies caps on or something, and that was the sign that we were the ones to give the money to. If they didn't get it, we'd just say, "You got anything today?" If they didn't hand us the money, we'd just leave. And then the third group would stop by - the muscle.  
  
CASEY  
  
I wasn't dumb. I knew what a protection racket was. I told 'em I was barely making enough to stay open as it was, and I wasn't about to give that little bit to them. About a week later, the Foot sent some guys over to try to force the money out of me, but that didn't go so well. (grinning) They had to cart one of their guys away.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 4  
  
If for some reason the muscle couldn't do the job, the Foot would send out a few high-end ninjas to finish it up.  
  
CASEY  
  
I was all proud of myself for fighting them off all by myself, but maybe a week, week 'n' a half later, the store burned down. Foot burned it down. I knew it - heck, everybody knew it. Insurance guy was going through the ashes, and he said, "Did you forget a payment?" I said, "To who?" an' he said, "To the Foot." I mean, they knew about it! Like it was just something you were s'pposed to do!  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 4  
  
The different groups of people made it run smooth, and it kept any one group from being connected to any other group. It was smooth, like everything else in the Foot back then.  
  
CASEY  
  
They messed with the wrong guy. I don't get scared. I get even. I took a day job - not much of one, but it kept me going. I took a few things I salvaged from the fire - baseball bat, golf clubs, hockey mask. Most nights, I couldn't sleep. When that'd happen, I'd put on that mask and go out a-huntin' Foot. They weren't hard to find, least not back then. As soon as I saw one, I'd just start slamming them until they were unconscious. Then I'd go on to find some more. I'd keep going until I felt better, and then I'd go home and go to sleep. Sometimes it'd only take one to calm me down, sometimes a bunch more.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Raph and I were teamed up that week. We had gone up to the roofs to scope out which alley we wanted to hit. I think we'd passed on a few, but the next one we looked at had three Foot guys running into it.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We didn't have any problem looking or waiting, but when we saw Foot running into the alley, we'd be fools not to take it. We were like, hey, jackpot. We leapt down to the alley and took them out in about ten seconds flat. Just as we're finishing off the last guy, this other guy turns the corner.  
  
CASEY  
  
That night, I'd already taken out two, and I was looking for more. Down the street, I saw three of them trying to break into a car. I kinda yelled at them, which was stupid, 'cause they took off running. Yeah, I know - some fighters. I saw them duck into this alley, and I went in after them. By the time I got there, they were all on the ground moaning, and these two...things were standing over them.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
This guy with a hockey mask walks up. He kinda stares at us and says, "What the hell?" Raph just stood there spinning his sai around, grinning. We were assuming he was Foot, you know - maybe one of their leaders. Finally, I said, "We're taking the Foot down, and it looks like you're next." Before I could even get my bo up into position, he said, "Listen, freak, I ain't no Foot. I was chasing down those guys."   
  
CASEY  
  
He sorta stared at me a bit, then said, "Looks like we're allies, then." Then he puts his stick on his back and introduces himself. I was kinda weirded out - I thought he was gonna wanna shake hands, and I wasn't about to touch him. But he didn't stick out his hand, so it was all good.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I didn't know exactly what his deal was, but I decided it didn't really matter - after all, we didn't know exactly what we were doing, either. So far, we were just knocking around Foot when we saw them - which is what he was doing. I figured it wouldn't hurt for the Foot to have someone else chipping away at them. So I told him to keep it up, but be careful.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We warned him there was four of us. We didn't follow any set pattern, but he'd probably run into us from time to time.   
  
CASEY  
  
After that night, I saw them quite a bit. A lot of times I'd just see their leftovers - some Foot guys bent over double or on the ground just groaning. Not even worth hitting them. Other times, I'd pass some Foot guys running for their lives. Wouldn't even have time to whack 'em. I'd watch them go by, turn around, and there'd be these turtles chasing them. They'd say "Hi, Casey" and zoom - they'd be gone.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
We never teamed up or anything back then. We just did our own things, by ourselves, and our paths would cross now and then.  
  
CASEY  
  
It took me forever to tell them four apart. They look the same to me, and I only saw them in the dark on top of that. After a bit, when I met up with them, they just started telling me which ones they were when I first saw 'em. "Hi, Casey - I'm Raphael." (pausing) I didn't know their story then, and really I didn't care. They were bustin' Foot, and that's all that mattered.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We came across some other folks that didn't have anything to do with the Foot. Lots of homeless guys wanting money or drinks - obviously, we couldn't help there.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Sometimes, if there was leftovers from dinner, I'd make a sandwich or something to carry with me. Pass it out to someone who needed it. Sometimes they were really thankful, other times they'd say, "Don'tcha got any money?" (shrugging) If they said that, I'd just take the sandwich back and head off.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Donny came across this prostitute one night - she was gettin' beat up pretty bad. Donny chased the guy off, and sort of had to help her back to her place. When we found out about it, we all gave him hell. "So, did you get something in return?" (smiling) Actually, we all got something in return.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I never even thought about the fact that she was a prostitute. I just saw her getting beat up, and moved in to help.   
  
SARAH  
  
I been working the streets for a couple years. The first thing you learn is that you're on your own. Ain't nobody gonna help you if you get in trouble. That one night, this guy started wailin' on me in the alley. I tried to scream and run away, but I couldn't get nowhere. Kinda twisted my ankle. All you can do when that happens is hope you don't get killed. But then this freak comes along and saves my butt. (smiling) He was really nice - really weird lookin', but nice. Since I couldn't walk so good, he offered to help me back to my place.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
She had to lean on me a bit to walk, but that was OK. It was getting really late, the streets were deserted, and she lived close by. On the way back, I told her that we were working on undercutting the Foot, which was something she was also in favor of.  
  
SARAH  
  
Them Foot guys? No one liked them none. They didn't actually move into our territory, but, well, they was bad for business, y'know? (laughing) I told him that if I could help him at all, just let me know. We got back to my place, and I knew where this was heading. He was gonna want to come in. (shaking her head) But he didn't. He said, "Well, take care of yourself, Sarah." Then he climbed up the side of the wall and split. (smiling) Just like in the comics. You don't even get to say "thanks".  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Raph ended up helping out Sarah, too, later on. And there were others that kinda got in over their heads, and we had to send their attackers running.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I came across these two guys fighting in an alley. Normally, I don't bother with them - let them duke it out, y'know? But one guy was just wailing on the other. So I knocked the strong guy in the head with my 'chucks, and sort of pushed him around until I got him to take off. The other guy was on the ground, and he was messed up quite a bit, so I stayed with him 'til I knew he was OK. I was always doing that - talking to people. Drove Leo nuts. Anyway, I asked him what the fight was about, and he said he was an escort and the guy didn't want to pay. I had to ask him what an escort was. (grinning) I tried not to gawk, but you know, we were green, in more ways than one. We didn't know this stuff. I got back home and was like, "Dudes, guess what I found out tonight?!"  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We didn't think too much about it. Yeah, we had this woman on our side, but we figured it was no big deal. But apparently, some of them know others, and they know others, and so on.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
It's not like there's a prostitute union or anything, but they run into each other, and they talk.  
  
SARAH  
  
Don told me he and the others were looking to take out the Foot. So I told the others I knew, I told 'em, "Look, there's these freaky lookin' turtle guys. They're weird lookin', but they helped me out. They're lookin' to take out the Foot, so if you get any dirt on the Foot - any info at all, lemme know." A couple other girls said the turtles helped them out, too, so word got around.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
Without their help, we might not have ever left the "attack and run" phase. As it ends up, these women - well, women and a few guys - were instrumental in taking out the Foot.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Their aid showed that good deeds do indeed come around again.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
There was all sorts of crime going on. For cash, the Foot basically ran the protection game. But if they were short on cash, they'd have one of their lesser soldiers go knock over a store. Some apparently did it without being asked - just to get extra money.  
  
MARCUS  
  
When I started working at Big T Market, the first thing they taught me was what to do when we got robbed. Not if we got robbed - when. Several months later, it happened - guy with a gun, mask, just like on TV. I was kinda nervous, said I couldn't open the safe, and the guy was like, "Yeah, yeah, I know that." Apparently, they had this down to a science. I walked around to the other register to empty it out, and I heard this...well, it was this quiet sound. Like "ooph". And then something falling. I turn around - slow, 'cause I didn't want to get shot - and the guy's gone. Well, not gone, but on the ground - I couldn't see him from where I was. And this turtle guy's standing there spinning his nunchucks around. (smiling, shaking his head) I had always told my friends, "I'm in New York. I've seen everything. You can't surprise me anymore." OK, a five-foot turtle with nunchucks breaking up a robbery - yeah, that surprised me.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Helping out Marcus was dumb luck. We'd split up for a second, Leo and I, chasing a couple Foot guys. I saw the guy robbing the place out of the corner of my eye, so I went in and broke it up. Ended up not being the same guy I was chasing, but so what?  
  
MARCUS  
  
The turtle guy told me to call the cops, and I did. As always, they took forever to show up. Michelangelo said, "I won't leave you alone with this guy 'til the cops are here." So we got to chatting.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Marcus was cool. He told me I could get something to drink if I wanted, but I passed. We just talked about the Foot and what we were trying to do. He was interested, and for me, it's always fun to talk to someone new.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
I was looking all over for Michelangelo, and finally found him at Big T Market. Chatting with the clerk! I ran in and asked him what he was doing. He explained the situation - it made sense, but I was still really uncomfortable about him doing that.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I can't help it - I like talking to people.  
  
MARCUS  
  
Leonardo was much quieter - he looked really nervous. But Michelangelo and I kept talking. When we saw the cops pull up, he just said, "Well, see ya around" and they both split out the back. Had to tell the cops that this guy had come in and broken up the robbery. They asked me for a description, and I said, "Well...he was kinda...green." (smiling) I thought they'd think I was insane. But one of them said, "About five feet tall, turtle, with a Japanese sword?" I said, "Um, no. Nunchucks." He just nodded. "We're getting a lot of that recently."  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Marcus ended up being a good friend, and Big T became another market where we were made to feel welcome.  
  
MARCUS  
  
Michelangelo and the rest of them...they're the most polite guys I've ever met in my life. When I told Mr Kyu - he's the owner of the store - when I told him about the robbery, he told me anytime Michelangelo or any of them want something, it's theirs. Doesn't matter if they want a hundred dollars in groceries, they're cool. But every time they come in, they almost never get anything. If they do, they insist on paying for it.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
There are a lot of temptations out in the streets of New York. Well, there are in any city, I guess. At any point, we could've left Splinter. Run off and joined the Foot. Started robbing places on our own. Gotten into the drug trade. But I think Splinter trained us...(pausing) No, it's not really training. He sort of told us what he believed, loved us, and trusted us enough not to do anything. And we didn't.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We broke up a drug deal once, and when the guys ran off, they left a bunch of crack. (long pause) I was curious. I took some with me. I was gonna try it when no one was around. But then I remembered Sensei saying how we weren't sure how food would react with our chemistry, so we had to be extra-careful. I thought, geez, no telling how this stuff's gonna react. Plus, I'd seen too many people strung out on the stuff. Not that everyone who tries it ends up like that or nothing, but when they do get like that, it's real scary. I didn't want to end up like that. So I didn't do it. Tossed it in the sluice. (smiling) Probably the right decision.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Letting my sons be themselves proved to be the most difficult thing for me. I had to...trust that they could see a situation, examine the possibilities, and make the correct choice. Their choices have not always been what would have been my choices, but I have never had cause to doubt them. I am most proud of this. 


	11. The Foot pt 2

XI. THE FOOT (pt 2)  
  
LEONARDO  
  
It took several months, but it finally appeared the Foot was slowly figuring us out. They stopped showing up in groups smaller than four, and they tended to shy away from the alleyways, even if that put them in plain sight.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We decided we needed to do something to take this war to the next level. We had a few discussions about it, and Splinter came up with the idea of letting them know exactly who they were dealing with.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I was quite certain that this Shredder was actually Oruku Saki. I decided it would perhaps unnerve him if I somehow let him know that I was the one behind these attacks on his clan.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I'd been reading a detective story from the library. The bad guy left business cards on each of his victims. I figured, hey, if a bad guy can do it, us good guys can do it, too.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
At their suggestion, I painted the kanji character for "karma" on some small pieces of paper, along with a painting of a three-petalled flower - my crest. I gave each of my sons a few of these to give to the Foot.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It was sorta neat - knock out the bad guy, leave your calling card, and skedaddle. I thought we'd be doing this for a few more months before they started catching on. I mean, it took 'em long enough to start avoiding the alleys.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I thought we were being subtle, but the Shredder apparently figured it out right away. Within, like, five days, the Foot completely changed tactics.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 2  
  
We were ambushed one night by those turtles - didn't even see them coming, didn't even have time to fight back. When I came to, they had shoved this piece of paper in my hand. (shrugging) Drawing of a flower, and something in Japanese or something. I took it back to my boss, and he takes it to the Shredder. Shredder takes it, looks at it, and just stops cold. He doesn't move for like a minute. I'm thinking, what? It's just a piece of paper. But then he slowly crumples it up, and I catch the look in his eyes. (shuddering) I thought I'd seen him mad before. Apparently that was just a warm-up.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 4  
  
From that second on, it was like his brain was unglued. Looking back, if I had to pick a second when the Foot started falling apart, that was it. He lost all interest in the Foot's daily routine, and became obsessed with getting these turtle guys.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 1  
  
Suddenly, a lot of us were pulled off our regular duties. We were told to help come up with a plan to completely demolish these freaks. And the Shredder didn't just want them beat up. Actually, he didn't even just want them dead. He wanted us to beat them up, and then to bring them back to him. At that point, he wanted to humiliate them, torture them, everything - and then kill them. (pausing) It freaked me out. Even though a bunch of us had fought these freaks, and all of us wanted to take them on, I started kinda feeling sorry for them. I'd had it bad enough just pissing off the Shredder from time to time. I couldn't imagine what it'd be like to be straight in his sights.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
The Foot had the right idea, but the wrong execution. Even after our many battles, they still underestimated our strength.  
  
ROCKY  
  
I don't wanna give my real name - I embarassed my ma enough as it is...I first met them turtles when I was part o' the muscle. That's what we was called - we'd go an' wail on targets that da Shredder picked out. Guys who didn't pay up, guys what was in th' way, stuff like that. Didn't have to go do it much - maybe once a week. But one day, we're told we got a new assignment. We gotta go this warehouse, sit in th' dark, wail on these guys when they came in, then take 'em back to da Shredder. Juntaro - he was th' guy what gave us our assignments - he says we'll know 'em when we see 'em.   
  
FOOT SOLDIER 3  
  
I asked Juntaro who the target was, and he wouldn't say. He got all tight-lipped and said, "You will know." And, yeah, we did.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We were split up in two teams, as we usually were back then. Me and Leo, Donny and Raph. We weren't that far apart - maybe three blocks. That probably ended up saving our tails.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We run into a largish group of Foot guys, and two of them are holding this crate. Before we can make a move, one of them yells, "Run! We'll cover for you!" Two of them take off with the crate, and the rest get ready to fight.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Oldest trick in the book, and we fall for it like the suckers we are. We figure there's something important in that box, and we gotta get it back. So we take out the guys in the alley and chase after the other ones. Ends up the exact same thing's happening down the block with Leo and Mikey.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I failed. That's the long and short of it. They set a trap, and I walked right into it. (pausing) Some leader I am. (pausing) My only comfort is that Donatello and Raphael did the same thing. Had I not fallen into the trap, and Don and Raph did, they would have gone into that building by themselves.   
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We chase them down the street into an empty building, and we come across Leo and Mikey running from the other direction. We don't have time to explain, so we all just join up, run into the building, and head down the hall towards this warehouse-type section of the building.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We pulled up to get our bearings, and suddenly we all realized it's dark and quiet. Michelangelo says, "Dudes, I think we've been set up." (pausing) He figured it out before I did.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
The lights go on, and suddenly we see we're surrounded. About fifty guys, all with chains, baseball bats, the works.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
There was a second or two while all of us sort of took it all in, and then everyone in the Foot started laughing. (smiling) Mistake. That made me mad.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 3  
  
In they come, the lights go on, and we all start laughing. We'd heard rumors about these guys in turtle costumes trying to break us up, but they looked pretty pathetic.   
  
ROCKY  
  
They looked stupid - like four kids on Halloween or somethin'. I was thinkin', geez, why'd they send so many of us down here? Just a couple of us coulda taken 'em out. I stand up and point at 'em. "Say yer prayers, freak." Then I grab my bat and start swingin'.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We've got no time to really come up with a strategy. We all just stood back to back - not much room between us, and started taking them out one by one. I tried to keep an eye on the whole situation, offer some help, keep us together as a unit. But there wasn't much time for that. We all had our hands full.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
If you watch kung-fu movies, you'll see the bad guys attack the good guy one at a time. That don't happen in real life. They all crowd around you at once, weapons swinging. And actually, there's some advantages to that. If they're not really good, and they rarely are, they often end up accidentally taking out some of their own guys. And when you knock people out, they form a sort of human shield between you and the others. Of course, on the minus side, it means you've gotta fight several people at once, and that ain't easy.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Sensei and Leo had talked about that "selfless state", where you're fighting so intently that you sort of lose yourself in it. Leo said he'd gotten there a few times, but the rest of us hadn't. We just thought it was when everything went smooth or something. (shaking his head) But it's not. It's a whole 'nother thing. That night, when we walked into that trap, that was the first night I got there. As it ends up, we all got there that night. And it was freaky, looking back at it. I mean, I've got like thirteen guys rushing me. You'd think my brain would overload or something. But no, in fact, it was like everything slowed down. I could size up the situation, pick out my next target, decide what maneuver to use, and implement it - all in a fraction of a second. And while I was implementing one move, I could plan my next one.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I had the advantage over my brothers - my weapon had the longest reach. I swung it around a lot, and that gave us a little breathing room. (smiling) It also almost took out Michelangelo, if I remember correctly.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
At one point, I knew I had to duck. I honestly don't know why - I didn't see anything, didn't hear anything that would tell me that was a good idea. Luckily, I didn't question it - I crouched down, just as Donny's bo sailed over my head. Then I was back up and fighting again. Didn't even give it a second thought until afterwards.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
All of us. We'd all entered that "selfless state" that Sensei had described, where you can instantly see what move to make, even if you've never made it before. I wish we had that battle on videotape. Not just because it'd be fun to watch, either. (laughing) But I'd love to see exactly what we did. I made a few moves that I'd never made before or since. Everyone did. It'd be great to be able to analyze those moves and add them to our training.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
The few times I've been in the selfless state, it's amazing how much better my fighting gets. But when all four of us got there... (shaking head) Had we not gotten there, they'd probably would've beat us. As it was, we felt like we could've taken on the entire Foot clan, not just the fifty we did.   
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Suddenly, the few Foot who haven't been knocked down yet turn tail and run. I started after them, but Leo hollered at me to stop. I turn around to look at him, and for the first time, I notice what had happened. There's my three brothers, standing with their weapons at the ready, panting, ready for more...and like forty guys either unconscious or barely moving on the floor. (pausing) It was the first time I realized...how powerful we four actually were. I mean, before, we ambushed a few guys and knocked 'em out. Big deal. This time, they ambushed us - fifty to four. And we still kicked their butts.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Mikey held up his nunchucks and gave out this weird yell. Sort of a primal scream victory cry.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
No idea where that came from. It felt good, though.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Mikey gave out his victory scream, and we all joined him. Then Leo tossed Sensei's card on the ground next to the pile of bodies, and said "scatter", so we all ran back to the lair.  
  
ROCKY  
  
I don't remember a thing. I swung at the first freak, and then nothing. Woke up about two hours later - ends up I was one of the first. Looked around. Those freaks had utterly wasted us. Some of the other guys were bleeding, but most were just knocked silly, like me.  
  
FOOT SOLDIER 3  
  
My last day in the Foot. As we started coming to, most of my buds started limping back to HQ. I didn't. Never went back. I mean, what kind of gang was this? I had this blade-wielding psycho forcing us to go out and fight these ninja turtle freaks. When that happens, you start thinking a job at McDonald's might not be so bad, y'know?  
  
ROCKY  
  
We all get back to HQ. We had trouble finding enough guys to drive - most of us were kinda woozy. Th' Shredder was there waitin' for us. When he saw us limpin' in, I guess he knew the turtles weren't gonna be coming. (shuddering) He lost it. Started smacking us around. Like we hadn't gotten enough of that that night. Y'ever been smacked across the face by a guy wearin' blades? Not fun.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
When my sons returned home, I could tell something had happened to them that night. They all had injuries, many of them serious. However, they did not seem to notice. I noticed a gleam in their eyes, one that only comes when a large battle is fought and won. I knew most of the story before they began to tell it.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Once we were back home, we started blabbing the story to Splinter, but he said, "Calm yourselves, my sons. Let me treat your injuries first." We were like, "Hey, what injuries, we're fine, don't worry about us." But then we finally took a look at ourselves. Ends up we weren't so fine.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We were in pretty bad shape, actually. It must have been a major adrenaline rush that got us home, because suddenly I realize I'm in pain. Not just in one place, either - all over.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
A pretty bad blow had landed on my shoulder, just above where the shell meets it - got a nasty bruise there for a while. My hands were a bit banged up, and my legs had been chained once or twice, so I had some bruising down there, and a little bleeding. But I was the best off by far. The others couldn't really walk for about a week.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I notice Michelangelo's arm is bleeding, and I'm about to say something. But suddenly I notice everyone else was looking at me weird. Up at my head. You know, in that "You got something in your teeth" kinda way. I put my hand up to the side of my head, and it was all sticky. Apparently, that guy with the knives got closer to me than I thought. He'd cut me open on the right side of my head, just behind the cheek, and I'd been bleeding pretty bad. Didn't even notice. Still got a scar there if you look close.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
It was weird, y'know? We fought this battle, ran home, and we thought we had kicked major butt. Well, I guess we did, but none of us even noticed that we'd been hurt. Sensei ran out of bandages - Donny had to run topside and get more.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We went completely out of commish. Donny was more or less fine after a good night's sleep, but the rest of us needed a lot more. Splinter cancelled sparring, study time, everything for days. We just laid in our beds, read a lot, listened to the radio. (smiling) And, of course, talked about how much butt we kicked.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
While my sons recovered, I spent much time meditating on our next move. It was certain that we were now the target, and therefore our present plan of attack was no longer suitable.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Splinter let us go on for a while about how great we were - for days, actually. But then he shut us up with one sentence. "Yes, you won the battle most decisively. Most fortunate that they did not have guns." Suddenly we all stop and think. Yeah, how hard would it have been to have four Foot guys up in the catwalk with guns? Four well-timed, well-placed shots - that's all, folks.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Yeah, we won - they didn't get what they wanted. But if they'd even given any thought to the fact that maybe they might not win the battle with conventional weapons, if even one of them thought of bringing a gun, one of us would probably be dead. Or all of us. (pausing) Between that thought, and the thought that it was me that had led us into this trap, I became very withdrawn for the next week or so. Looking at me, you would've thought we lost.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
Leonardo took the battle very hard. He felt he had failed as a leader. I had to show him that yes, he had led them into a trap, but now we had more information, and could avoid such traps in the future. In addition, Leonardo had never faltered. He may have led them into danger, but he also had led them out.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We all agreed that we had to change our strategy. Before, we were picking off the Foot like they were targets. Now, it was obvious that we were now the ones being targeted.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Sensei made one thing clear - whatever tactic we chose to employ, it would have to embody the essence of ninja - the art of invisibility. We now knew they'd kill us if given half a chance, and so we were determined never to give them another shot at that.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We all agreed we had to hit them where they lived. But we didn't know where that was, really.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Our major problem was that we didn't know nothin' about the Foot. (shrugging) Didn't need to, going in. We just busted heads together when they came by. But if we were gonna start playing this thing smart, we needed to start operating on their turf. And heck, we didn't even know where that was.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We kept saying things like "Well, if we knew where they kept their vans, we could do this" or "If we knew when and where they got together, we could do that". Finally, it hit us - call in some favors.  
  
MARCUS  
  
Mikey came back around one night. That was cool, but I was surprised. I didn't think I'd see him again. He wanted to get the lowdown on the Foot - anything I could tell him. That wasn't much, as it turned out, but it was more than he had before.  
  
SARAH  
  
I didn't seen them turtle guys for like a month, but then Don shows up. He needs to talk to me, but he's scared of bein' seen, so we go back to my place - not the apartment, just the hallway. We chatted a bic. He needs to know everything about the Foot - where they are, when they meet, anything.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
When I asked, Sarah said she had some information, but she could get more. So we arranged to meet back up again in a week.   
  
SARAH  
  
During that week, I learned as much as I could. I asked everyone I knew 'bout the Foot - what buildings they mighta seen them come out of, all that. When I met Don again that next week, he brought a map with him, and we marked off all the buildings and places I heard about on it. Don's really happy. He says, "I think the Foot's goin' down," and I told him I sure hoped so. I didn't really think them guys could do it alone, but y'know, you can't help hopin'.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
Once we had as much information as we thought we needed, we had to decide what to do.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
There were four buildings that seemed to have the bulk of Foot activity. One ended up being empty by the time we visited - and of course, that was the only one close to us.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
There appeared to be one main headquarters, and two smaller buildings - we called them satellites. They had meetings there, stored weapons, that sort of thing.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
None of those three locations were anywhere near the lair, and we weren't crazy on the idea of running all over New York just to get our licks in. We needed a car.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I was adamant that none of our friends be brought into this fight. Thus I would not dream of asking to borrow their vehicles. If the license numbers were traced, it would put them in grave danger.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Michelangelo came up with a great idea. He said, "Hey, what about that hockey guy?" After all, he was already fighting the Foot - he'd probably be willing to help us out in our quest. Problem was, we didn't know how to get in touch with him. We spent six nights on the rooftops just trying to find him.  
  
CASEY  
  
One day I'm out on the hunt, like most nights, and I hear someone call my name. It was one of them turtles - Leonardo. He had me join him up on the roof. I hadn't seen them for a bit, and he says they're getting targeted now, so they gotta lay low. But he says they're looking to really make a move, and am I willing to help them out? Are you kidding? Take the Foot out for real? Of course I'm in.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Leo took Casey down to the lair, which was weird. We hadn't ever just invited anyone over before. Of course, I thought it was great - a guest for dinner!  
  
CASEY  
  
Man, that set-up of theirs was unreal. They were trying to tell me their master plan, and here I was just bugging out at their home in the sewers. Finally, we get down to brass tacks, and they tell me what they want from me.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
We had to stress to Casey that this would not be a one-night operation. It would be necessary to gather information for some time before we made our move.  
  
CASEY  
  
My idea was heck, you know where they are - go in with bats flying, right? But they didn't see it that way.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
We told him we might only have one chance at each location, and we wanted to make sure we hit them hard each time. No use going in if there was just two guys there. We wanted to cause significant damage each time.  
  
CASEY  
  
I finally agreed to do it their way. They seemed to have given it a lot more thought than me, so I figured sure, I'll play along.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
(smiling, holding up one finger) Operation Amputation Phase One - the satellite HQ West.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
(grinning) Casin' with Casey. That's what I called it. Casey came and picked us up in his truck. We'd never been in a car before! Watching the city at night whiz by was so cool. I've done that a lot more since, obviously, but I still remember how cool it felt that night.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
He dropped us off about two or three blocks from the building we were looking to hit, then we'd approach from several sides.  
  
CASEY  
  
One word for those nights - bor-ing. I sat in the truck nodding off, night after night. I kept thinking there were all these Foot guys swarming around, and here I was napping. Night after night. (shrugging) But I had offered to help out, and given my word, so I sucked it up. Started bringing books to read.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
We were overly cautious on the first building. We knew it wasn't the main headquarters; it was more like a satellite base, and a storehouse for stolen merchandise. But we were sure we would only get one shot at this, so we spent the first night on the roof, just watching the Foot come and go. The next night, Donatello and I broke in through the roof while Michelangelo and Raphael stayed on top.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
That was kind of...tense. I mean, we'd split into teams before, but each time, we were off doing our own thing. Mikey and I were stuck on the roof waiting and watching.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We were really on edge. Every time we heard a sound, we thought, "Oh, no, they've been found out" and wondered if we should rush in.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
We watched for a couple days - we were looking for a good opening. We didn't want to be completely outnumbered, but we didn't want to make our move when there was nobody there, either - that wouldn't have the same effect on them. We decided we felt comfortable taking on around thirty Foot soldiers - enough for us to beat, but not so many that they might have a chance to grab a gun, or go for reinforcements.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
The Foot mentioned that they were going to be taking a shipment in at the beginning of the week. I thought that might be the best time to make our move - just after they deliver everything.  
  
CASEY  
  
They finally said they were going to make their move the next day, and I thought, "Finally - my chance to waste some guys." But then they said they wanted me to wait in the truck again! I was like, "You gotta be kidding me!"  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Casey took a lot of convincing. I told him, look, we were miles from home, and if you ended up getting delayed, or knocked out, we're gonna be surrounded by Foot with no way home. It's not like we can hail a taxi.  
  
CASEY  
  
I finally said I'd do it, but I didn't really mean it. I thought these guys were in over their heads, and they'd need me to help them out once they went in.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Donatello had this great idea that if we cut the power to the building, we'd have this distinct advantage.   
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Our eyes do pretty good in dark - not sure if that's a genetic thing or just a side effect from living in the sewers so long.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
So the big night comes. We meet up on the roof, shake hands, and get to work. They dropped to the ground while I stay up on the roof and cut the power. The second I do that, the others rush into the building, with me right behind.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Raph and I took the front door, and Leo took the back. That was brave - for all he knew, everyone was going to rush out the back - but he insisted. Donny was supposed to join him there a few seconds later, so I decided it'd be OK.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
One major flaw in my plan - there was a streetlight in the alley, and it lit up part of the main warehouse through the grate-covered window. So it wasn't quite as dark in there as I'd hoped. It didn't end up making a difference, really. We had knocked out most of them by the time we got to that spot anyway.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I don't think any of us slipped into that "selfless state", but I don't think any of us had to. The whole battle was about three minutes long. No one escaped. Knocked every single one of them silly.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
Once we were done, I was ready to tell everyone to scatter, but Michelangelo and Raphael had cooked up their own little ending.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Back when Mikey and I were stuck up on the roof, observing nothing, we got to talking. We decided that Mikey could leave the calling card this time, since he's got the art skills.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Raph handed me a spray can, and I spray-painted the kanji for "karma" on the floor, really big, along with Splinter's crest. It was tough - I hadn't practiced using a spray can before, and the light wasn't that great, but I think it looked cool. Then I tossed the can in the corner, and we headed out of there. Left all the doors open, though.  
  
CASEY  
  
I was counting off ten minutes, after which time I was going to go in after them. I was hoping none of them would be dead or anything. I hadn't even hit six when they showed up at the truck, hootin' and hollerin'. I said, "What happened? You chicken out?"   
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I was like, "Chicken out? They're all out cold!", and then Mikey gives his victory scream, and we all join in.  
  
CASEY  
  
(smiling) I'll be honest - I wanted to kick butt, too. But I started realizing yeah, they knew what they were doing. And they didn't need my help in that area. They needed someone to drive them. (shrugging) I decided if that's what I had to do to help destroy the Foot, then sure, I'll drive.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
On the way back, we had Casey call the cops. They ran over there, found all these unconscious guys with all this stolen merchandise, and hauled them all off to jail.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We got in the paper and everything. Well, they didn't mention us, but they had a picture of the place, along with Mikey's tag. The paper said "an anonymous tip" was responsible, which I guess was accurate as far as that goes.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I'm sure the Shredder had a cow when he saw that.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I was most pleased with my sons' first victory. It certainly helped Leonardo regain his confidence as a leader. 


	12. The Foot pt 3

XII. THE FOOT (part 3)  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
For some dumb reason, Shredder decided the best way to get us out of his way was to fight mutant with mutant. Turns out he didn't know much more about mutagens than we did.  
  
ROCKY  
  
Word got out that Shredder was lookin' for volunteers. He said he was gonna make a couple of us real strong so we could beat them turtles. Me 'n' Bob said sure, we'll do it. We trusted da Shredder, which weren't very smart. Ends up he'd tried somethin' like this before wit' two other guys. Didn't take - they died. Shredder didn't tell us that, o' course.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Shredder stole some sort of mutagen from a bio-chem lab - no idea how he knew what or where it was. Might've been the same stuff that made us. He then got some rhinoceros and warthog DNA to combine with these two guys. Instant mutant, he thought. Well, yeah, sorta.  
  
ROCKY  
  
It hurt, man. It hurt real real bad. Sometimes I'll wake up screamin' like a little kid, cause I get dreams that I'm mutatin' again. Anyways, after a couple days, we wake up, Bob n me, and now we're freaks, too, just like them turtles. So now I'm huge an' strong an' ugly, and I can't work nothin'. Took me forever to get used to this body. That made Shredder mad. He wanted us to go out and pound turtles, like right away, and I couldn't even stand up. Had to learn to stand, to walk, to do everything all over again. One Foot guy walks in while I'm tryin' to get my legs goin'. I'm jumpin' from one foot to th' other. He says, "Nice moves, there, Rocksteady", and soon everyone's callin' me that. They start callin' Bob "Bebop". Bebop 'n' Rocksteady. (grinning) Kinda neat. Anyway, 'bout a week after I got freakified, Shredder says we gotta go kill them turtles now. I really didn't think I was ready. I mean, I can barely walk by then, y'know? But Shredder's impatient - wants 'em dead, wants 'em dead now. He gives us some guns 'n' stuff, and has us go out huntin' turtles.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I have no idea what Shredder was thinking. Maybe we'd be fighting, and wouldn't fight these guys as hard 'cause they were mutants?   
  
DONATELLO  
  
We were on our way to case the East HQ when we spotted some Foot guys ducking down an alley. We decided to give chase, like the idiots we were.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I should've called them back. It crossed my mind that we were being set up, but I don't know - I wasn't forceful enough. I wasn't sure. I should've said, "Let's keep our mind on the task at hand." (shaking his head) As it turned out, it wasn't that big a deal. We got through it OK. But I still kick myself about that. Starting then, I didn't second-guess myself anymore.   
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We turn the corner on the alley, and all the Foot guys are scrambling up the fire escape. I'm about to leap up and give chase when I hear this really weird laugh. Really deep.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
I saw this creature walk out from behind this dumpster. Huge guy, with a rhino head. Part of me was like, "Wow - a mutant like me!" but most of me was noticing the gun he was carrying.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I turned to check out the way we came, figuring we could just bow out of this one, but now there's another guy there. Huge. Warthog. Heavily armed. That's when I started to worry.  
  
ROCKY  
  
I remember them gawkin' at me. An' I felt...I dunno. Mainly I felt tough, like "yeah, here's where you die, ya freaks". And at the same time, I felt like, "Stop starin' at me."  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
He said, "You're going down, freaks." Even though I was kinda feeling we were in for a tough fight, I sort of laughed at that. I said, "Look who's calling who 'freak'."  
  
ROCKY  
  
One o' them said, "Who ya callin' a 'freak'?" At first, I started to get mad, but then I started thinkin'. He's right, y'know? I mean, now I'm like th' turtles, right? So they should be my friends, not Shredder. And instead, I'm there tryin' to work this AK, tryin' to blow them away.   
  
LEONARDO  
  
They finally lift their guns up, and we dove behind dumpsters as Bebop and Rocksteady proceeded to shoot up the alleyway. Mikey was right next to me, and he looked a bit panicked. I just sort of did this. (holds up his hand, palm out) Trying to calm him down. I had a feeling this wasn't as hopeless as it appeared.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
To be honest, I'm kinda scared of guns. Well, I guess everyone is, but me more than the rest. When I first saw Bebop and Rocksteady with their guns, I kinda panicked inside. Like, "this is it - we can't compete with guns." But it didn't end up that way.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Something about the scene didn't sit right with me. I only figured it out later, though. So you take this guy, mutate him, make him extremely large and strong. And then you hand him...a gun? Why not just hand him the gun to start with, and skip the mutation? I never did figure out the logic there, but I guess the Shredder didn't, either. Good news for us.  
  
ROCKY  
  
Ends I can't work the gun so good - my fingers are real big, and I can't get 'em on the trigger too good. And I ain't much of a shot anyhoo. I end up shooting up this store. Musta put about fifty rounds in it. Lucky there weren't no one in there, or I'da killed someone for sure.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I can see Leo from where I'm hiding. He holds a finger out, like a gun, and kinda whacks the top of it with his other hand. (demonstrates) It's the sort of thing that any other time, it wouldn't make any sense. But it's kinda weird. When we get into fight mode, it's like we have this bond, and we don't have to talk, really. We instinctively know what the other means. I knew what that finger tapping meant - he meant take out the gun, and don't worry about the freak holding it.  
  
ROCKY  
  
I finally look around, and Bebop's waving his arms around, so I stop firing. Ends up I almost shot him, too.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Finally, there's a break in the shooting, and I leap back out towards Bebop with my sai pulled. I aimed straight for the gun. I was thinking...I don't know, like my sai would slice through the AK. I don't know what I was thinking - it's steel on steel. It was just a really loud clank. But I hit it with a lot of force, and Rocksteady dropped it.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I leapt over to Rocksteady, slammed my wooden kitana into his gun, and brought it down. I kicked it behind me, and faced him direct.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
Once their guns were out of the picture, I kinda thought, whew, now it's almost over. Nope.  
  
ROCKY  
  
Actually, I was kinda happy to drop the gun. I wasn't used ta guns. But bashin' things with my fists? That I was good at.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Bebop and Rocksteady both pulled out bats and started swinging. It worried me at first, but we found that it was pretty easy to dodge them. They were..."lumbering", I guess is the word. No problem ducking out of the way. But that didn't make it any easier to defeat them.  
  
ROCKY  
  
They kept hitting me with them sticks and chucks. Before I was freakafied, I'da been out with one hit. But now it barely hurt. Just made me mad, 'cause no matter how I tried, I couldn't hit 'em back.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Raph and I were taking on Bebop while Leo and Mike were on Rocksteady. Complete stalemate on both ends of the alleyway. We kept whacking them, to no effect. They kept swinging at us, to no effect. This went on for minutes. I was starting to get tired.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
I was tempted to go for the jugular, literally. Pull out the sai and start drawing some serious blood. But Sensei frowns on that sort of fighting. (smiling) "Frowns" isn't the right word, actually. He told me never to draw blood, ever, if there's another way. So that thought was running through my head - "find another way, find another way". I'm hanging back a bit, letting Don get a few more licks in, trying to find an opening here. Suddenly I saw this gleam - the street light caught Bebop's nose ring. I figure, hell, nothing ventured, right? After Bebop finished another lame swing at us, I leapt up, grabbed his nose ring, and yanked down hard. Actually, I pretty much hung off of it. He squealed and fell to his knees, and I rolled out of the way.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
I saw Raphael do that, and part of me was like, "Ouch, that's mean". The other part was going, "Hey, why didn't I think of that?"  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Donatello gave Bebop a huge roundabout smack behind the ear. That knocked him out cold.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We couldn't get anywhere with Rocky. Leo and I kept wailing on him, but he didn't even slow down. Just kept swinging. Finally, one of my chucks caught him on the snout, right between the horns. Wasn't even a full-on hit, more of a ricochet. Apparently, he winced. I didn't notice, but luckily Leo did.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
That was the first reaction we had gotten from him since we started fighting. So while he was swinging at us again, I ducked out of the way and sheathed one of my swords. Then, when he started straightening up again, I came down on his snout full force with my other sword.   
  
ROCKY  
  
Man, that hurt. I fell like a ton o' bricks. I couldn't see, couldn't think. I was just lying there with my snout in my hands, moaning. By the time I felt good enough to open my eyes, them turtles was gone.  
  
DONATELLO  
  
Once they were both out of the picture, we took off. Leo said we'd skip the casing tonight, since they'd probably be on the lookout for us.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Running into Bebop and Rocksteady made us realize that the Shredder wasn't kidding around. He was looking to take us out, by any means possible. That sort of provided us with the impetus to make our final move.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
We believed that time was precious. We were quite aware that the Foot was actively searching for us, and although our home was quite well-hidden, we could not count on not being discovered. We had to strike them before they struck us.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Time for Operation Amputation Phase Two - the satellite HQ East.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
After discussing it a bit, we decided we had to hit both remaining targets the same night. Not give them a chance to regroup and fortify their defenses.  
  
CASEY  
  
When I went to pick them up, they told me that this might be an all-nighter. They also said they might need me to join in. (smiling) Which of course I was more than happy to do.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We brought Sensei came along, but other than that, it was pretty much the same set up as before. We'd planned it all out. There were two major ways into this building, front and back, and this small side exit. Raph and I took the front, Leo and Donny had the back, and Sensei went through the side.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
I went up to the roof and cut the power, but before I could leap down, four Foot soldiers swarmed around me. I'm not sure - they might have been on guard duty. I can't imagine they were just hanging out there, or that they managed to jump up there and engage me that quickly. I wasn't ready for battle - I didn't even have my weapon drawn. I had to fight them off weaponless for a bit until I could leap back from them and draw it out. And they were excellent fighters, too - took me quite a while to subdue them. All this time I'm fighting them, I was thinking, geez, Leo's down there alone.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
As the lights went out, I cautiously entered the side door. There was little activity in that part of the building, and I subdued the few Foot soldiers I encountered. After that point, I simply tried to find my way through the building, attempting to locate my sons.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
We ran into the building, ready to kick some tail, but there wasn't much tail to kick. A few Foot came our way, and we made short work of them.   
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We learned later that the Foot...well, they weren't exactly expecting us, really, but they had a plan. If it looked like they were outmatched, they were supposed to withdraw and head back to the main HQ. Apparently, our reputation preceded us - once the lights went out, most of them tried to split. Didn't even stick around to see what was happening. All their vans were parked out back, so that's the way they all headed. Back towards Leo and Donny. And it ends up Donny wasn't back there - just Leo.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
I entered the back door, and knocked out the first guy in short order. Then I headed down this narrow corridor into the building proper. Suddenly, I saw this swarm of Foot soldiers coming my way. There was no sign of Donatello, who was supposed to be partnered with me. I figured there was no sense in retreating. I engaged two of them and knocked them out, which bought me a second or two. I used that time to move back to the corridor. (pausing) I guess I had entered the "selfless state" already, because that wasn't really a conscious decision. "The Art of War" states that the location of the battle can greatly affect the outcome. I hadn't understood that when I had originally read it, so I'd meditated on it, and talked about it with Sensei. We discussed whether it was better to be higher or lower when dueling on a stairway, open vs against a wall, that sort of thing. (smiling) Glad I did that, because all that information must have made its way into my subconscious, and it sure came in handy. When I headed back, The Foot thought I was runnning, probably, but I was actually just retreating to a more desirable location.  
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I had not spent much time discussing with my sons the importance of terrain to a battle. But it would appear Leonardo picked up the lesson most admirably.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
The corridor was just wide enough that two people could walk down it next to each other. But with weapons drawn and at the ready, they were sort of stuck going in single-file. This gave me a great advantage, because they could only attack from the front, one at at time. All I had to do was knock out the Foot soldier in front of me, move a step back, and wait for the next one. I managed to knock out about ten of them before the ones in back got jumpy, and tried to push forward. That actually made fighting them even easier, because the ones in front started tripping over the fallen ones, and I just had to knock them out as they fell.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
I finally managed to overwhelm the guys on the roof, and I leapt down to the back door, fully expecting the worst. I ran in, and saw Leonardo in the corridor. And he was just wailing on these guys, one after the other, pow pow pow. He must have been knocking one out every four seconds or so. He obviously didn't need any help - I'd just be in his way if I entered that corridor with him. If I had had my brain in gear, I would've run around to one of the other ways in to see if someone else needed help. Instead, I just stared at Leo - it was unreal. I think he took out fifty guys.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Finally, the last guy or two turned back into the building and ran, kinda tripping over all the guys on the floor. I did a quick check to verify that everyone on the ground was down for the count. When that was done, I turned around and there's Donatello, kind of silhouetted against the back window. He didn't move for a second ,but finally he just put his bo on the ground, rested it on his arm, and started applauding.  
  
MICHELANGELO  
  
We're trying to maneuver through this building in the dark, keeping our eyes peeled for any Foot soldiers, and all we're finding is storage rooms, a few empty living quarters, stuff like that. We hear some commotion going on near the back, but we're not sure where exactly. We finally run into Sensei, who immediately points us towards the rear - apparently, everything's secure where he was. We start heading back that way, passing storage rooms and that kinda thing, when two Foot guys come screaming around the corner. They weren't attacking - they were running away. We took them both out in seconds flat, and then we continued along until we met up with Leo and Donny.  
  
RAPHAEL  
  
Donny asked us, "Anyone get out?" and I said, "Not a one." Mikey led us in that victory scream, which freaked Sensei out.   
  
MASTER SPLINTER  
  
I had not heard this...yell of Michelangelo's before. Apparently, they had begun doing it upon completion of a battle. It was quite...animalistic, and a bit unnerving. However, I decided it was simply their way of letting some youthful energy out.   
  
DONATELLO  
  
Sensei sort of congratulated us, but then reminded us that we had to get to the main HQ before these guys came around and could raise the alarm. We scurried back out to Casey's truck and headed off.  
  
LEONARDO  
  
Oddly, one of the things I remember most about that night is riding in the back of Casey's truck, heading towards the main Foot headquarters. It was...a really strange feeling. I'd moved into that "selfless state" for my first battle, and I was trying to hold onto it for the upcoming battle, because I knew that one would be tougher than the one we just had. I found that if I tried hard to hold on to that state, I'd lose it. So I'd meditate for a minute, and it would return a bit. It was this weird feeling of being between the two states. 


	13. The Shredder

XIII. THE SHREDDER

MICHELANGELO

We'd been over the plans for the main HQ several times. It was an old factory or slaughterhouse or something. The main floor was huge - took up about a quarter block. It wasn't really broken down much. A few partitions, but mainly it was just this huge space. The next four floors up had metal catwalks that overlooked the main floor, and led into side rooms. That's where the Foot soldiers lived. The top floor was just a half floor - not even half, really. The elevator emptied into this lobby-like thing, and you could either go out onto the roof or into this small area, which ended up being where the Shredder lived.

DONATELLO

Our plan of attack was basically the same. Cut the power, start from both entrances, and work our way inward. Of course, this time, we had to work our way upstairs, as well.

MASTER SPLINTER

I warned my sons not to take on the Shredder one-on-one. I did not believe they could defeat him in single combat. In fact, I was worried that even our combined strength might not be enough.

MICHELANGELO

Splinter armed himself with an old pair of nunchakus - they were practice ones, kinda lightweight. I asked Splinter if he wanted to switch. I mean, I'm pretty good with the chucks, but Sensei's the expert. He said no, though. He said I was already used to the heavier ones, and so he'd make do with those. (smiling) He did, too.

CASEY

I pulled up a block away, and saw them getting ready to leave in the rear-view mirror. Even I could tell they were pretty tense. They told me, again, to wait for them. I promised myself if I hadn't seen them in half an hour or so, I'd go in after 'em.

DONATELLO

The building got their power from a connection to the next building, which was fortunate. I just had to cut the power between the buildings rather than getting up on the roof of the HQ.

RAPHAEL  
Donatello hadn't had great luck cutting the power the first two times. Once, it didn't matter much, since a street light kinda spilled into the building anyway. And earlier that night, he'd been ambushed right afterwards. I'd started thinking that maybe cutting the power wasn't worth it. But this time, man, it couldn't have been more perfect.

DONATELLO

Ends up I cut the power at precisely the best moment. The Shredder had been consulting with his second-in-command - Juntaro, I think his name was. I'm not sure if he had sensed that we were on the move, or maybe he just randomly decided it was time to rally the troops or something. In any event, he got in the elevator, and had only gotten about half a floor down when I cut the power. They were stuck between floors, and out of the picture.

LEONARDO

Michelangelo and I took the back entrance, while Donny, Raph and Sensei took the front.

MICHELANGELO

We got into the building, and moved in a bit, out of the way of the doorway. It was dark enough that I couldn't see the guys coming at us too well. But that was fine - I knew if I was having trouble seeing them clearly, they were probably have trouble seeing us at all. As they approached us, it was hard to tell if they were attacking or just trying to run out. (shrugging) It didn't really matter, I guess.

RAPHAEL

We took out a few folks waiting for Donny to come back round, then we started making our way in, taking out Foot soldiers as we went along. Sensei told us to steer clear of the center of the floor. He was afraid that someone up on another floor would pull a gun. I wasn't really worried 'bout that - I mean, it was dark as hell in there. Most of the guys we ran into didn't even put their weapons up before we smacked them down. Even if someone had a gun, they'd be shooting into the void, just guessing.

DONATELLO

We kept close to the wall, just knocking out Foot soldiers one after the other. I slipped back into that "selfless state" - not much thinking, just reacting. Twice I sensed a presence to my side, but didn't attack. I couldn't see, but I knew it was Splinter pulling even with me.

MICHELANGELO

(smiling) I kinda wish I could've sat this one out, and just watched Splinter. A good chuck battle's something worth seeing, and Sensei makes it look...well, with him, it's almost like dancing. He's so graceful with the things, even when he's smacking people in the face with them.

LEONARDO

Our plan was to make for the two stairwells - both groups more or less heading for the one to our right. At that point, we'd climb the stairs, take a right, circle halfway around to the opposite stairwell, and start climbing again. We had decided that it didn't really matter if the two groups got to the stairwells at the same time. But as it ended up, we more or less did.

MASTER SPLINTER

We had perhaps two goals that night - the Shredder was the most important target, but at the same time, I wished to cause as much damage as I could to the Foot. The more Foot soldiers we immobilized, the more that would hopefully be persuaded to leave their employ. I hoped to plant seeds of doubt in them. If they knew knew they were being targeted, that simply being a Foot soldier was not a guarantee of safety, perhaps they would be persuaded to leave.

MICHELANGELO

It's weird how many Foot soldiers we took out, one after the other. I remember quite a bit about that night, so I guess that means I wasn't really in that "selfless state". But apparently I didn't need to be. Leo and I were kinda side-by-side, moving forward at pretty much the same rate. We reached the stairway at about the same time. Leo began heading up, and I turned around and guarded his back, stepping back up the steps one at a time. Once we reached the top, we turned right and kept going.

LEONARDO

On every floor but the first, there wasn't room for us to fight two abreast. So I took the lead for Michelangelo, and Splinter took it for the others, and we just made our way forward.

DONATELLO

Once we hit the second floor, my fighting was pretty much done. A few stragglers came up from behind, and I took them out, but mainly it was Splinter's game. (pausing) Come to think of it, even he wasn't fighting that many Foot soldiers by that point.

LEONARDO

I guess most of the Foot was on the first floor. It thinned out quite a bit by the time we started climbing.

RAPHAEL  
Donny thinks all the Foot soldiers were on the first floor waiting for the Shredder. He was stuck in the elevator, after all. But I'm thinking there was probably a couple just hiding in their rooms.

DONATELLO  
Our two groups met up on the fourth floor, and we were about to climb the steps to the top. Finally, for the first time, we faced an organized attack - a bunch of Foot soldiers swarmed up the steps from below, weapons drawn.

MICHELANGELO

Splinter and me were near the back, so we held them off while everyone else kept climbing. After taking out two guys, I was pretty much in the stairwell, so I started up, too. (shaking his head, sighing) Mistake. That left Splinter down there alone, while us four went up. Completely the opposite of what should've happened. I shoulda stayed down there and let Splinter squeeze up past me.

MASTER SPLINTER

I was not in any immediate danger, holding off the attack from the rear. However, I could not turn and climb without exposing myself to attack. I needed to verify that nobody would follow us up. Just as the attack began to thin, a senior Foot soldier pressed the attack. He was quite skilled, and I was in a rather awkward position in the stairwell. This stretched out that duel quite a bit longer than I wished.

RAPHAEL

We reached the top floor, and there's this sort of lobby where the elevator is. There's a couple suits of samurai armor set up there, holding spears. And there's two main doors. One's locked, so we try the other one. It's a glass one that spit out onto this half-roof. Se we're there, trying to get our bearings. And trying to figure out where the hell the Shredder got to.

LEONARDO  
I was thinking maybe the Shredder wasn't there, but the second I thought that, the elevator doors slowly slide open. The flood light from the next building was pretty bright, and we could see Shredder and his second-in-command, Juntaro, climbing out. It was then that it hit me - he'd been stuck in the elevator the entire time.

DONATELLO  
We got into attack positions, and the Shredder just sort of stared at us through the windows. Finally he turned to Juntaro and said something to him, and Juntaro nodded and headed down the steps.

MASTER SPLINTER

At last, I landed a solid blow on the senior Foot soldier, and as he collapsed, he pushed a few other Foot soldiers to the base of that stairway. I assumed this would buy me the time to climb the stairs and rejoin my sons. But I had only gone up a step or so when I saw Juntaro descending the stairway. I now was forced to fight him in order to reach the roof.

LEONARDO

I assumed the attack position, but I wasn't exactly sure if I was doing the right thing. Sensei had warned us not to try to take on the Shredder by ourselves, but it didn't look like we had much choice in the matter.

RAPHAEL  
I don't think Shred-head would've listened if we said, "Look, can you wait 'til our sensei gets here?"

DONATELLO

The Shredder looked us over for a bit, then he walked over and grabbed a spear from one of the suits of armor in the lobby. He kind of casually pushed the door open, stepped outside and just stood there.

RAPHAEL

The Shredder didn't seem worried at all. I noticed my upper arm shaking a bit, and I realized I wasn't centered - I was letting my fears guide my actions, as Splinter would say. I tried to center myself, like Sensei taught us, but it's tough when your already in attack position and your opponent's standing right in front of you.

DONATELLO

Finally, he said, "You freaks have bothered me enough. Who's first?" and Raphael said, "It may as well be me."

RAPHAEL

I volunteered. Which showed I wasn't thinking. First off, I wasn't mentally prepared. I guess I just decided action would be better than standing there. And worst of all, as Leo pointed out later, I had basically agreed to the Shredder's condition that we'd fight him individually. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

DONATELLO  
Raph didn't do so well his first round. About fifteen seconds in, he got smacked in the side by the brunt of Shredder's spear. He fell down, but Leo jumped into the fray before the Shredder could follow up.

RAPHAEL

That hurt bad. And the worst thing is, I shoulda seen it coming. I don't mind losing to a better opponent, I guess, but not with a shot that easy.

LEONARDO

I couldn't be sure that the Shredder wouldn't just finish Raphael off right away, so I leapt in as soon as he was hit, to give him a different target, and hopefully give Raphael time to get to safety.

DONATELLO

Leo did the best of all of us. He kept the Shredder fighting intently for a couple minutes. Eventually, though, Shredder found an opening and kicked Leo right in the plastron. Knocked him on his tail. I decided Leo's plan was the best one - don't give him a chance to strike what might be a killing blow - so when he went down, I stepped up. I tried to stay completely on the defensive, sort of play him to a draw, but then I spotted an opening and I instinctively went for it. That's when I found out the Shredder was stringing me along. He knew I'd be suckered in by his supposed "opening" - and that's when I fell to the ground, face first. It hurt, but I was alert enough to roll out of the way as Michelangelo stepped up.

MICHELANGELO

I watched everyone fighting as close as I could. I was sure I could find a weak spot in the Shredder's fighting style. When Donatello went down, my instincts pushed me forward, but I still hadn't spotted any weakness. I was holding hope that I'd find one while I took him on. But he blocked everything I sent his way - even though I was swinging my chucks pretty far apart - and my hope was sinking fast. Eventually, I got desperate, which is always dangerous. I pulled the chucks too far apart, which left an opening right up front. He took it, got me right in the plastron, and I fell down on my tail.

RAPHAEL

I saw Michelangelo go down, so I assumed it was my turn again, but Leo jumped up before I could react.

LEONARDO

Raphael had taken the biggest hit of us four, and I didn't know if he was really in any shape to go another round yet. So I stepped up instead. We fought for another couple of minutes, and again, I couldn't find an opening. This guy truly was a master. Finally, I managed a backstroke with my katana that just barely got him in the shoulder. It wasn't very deep, but it drew blood. He didn't say anything at first. He just kept fighting until he'd knocked me down again. As I rolled away, he sort of growled and said, "Your skills are quite admirable. Pity they will be insufficient to save you".

RAPHAEL

I figured it was definitely my turn now. I leapt up and engaged him. Leo's hit gave me hope. He wasn't invincible. I was kinda hoping that his bleeding shoulder would slow him down a bit. It didn't. At least I was more centered this time, and I fought him to a draw for a while. But finally he brought the middle of his spear down on my shoulder, and I ended up on my back. My eyes clouded over for a second. And before anyone could step in, he stepped forward and put one foot on either side of me.

DONATELLO

I knew he was going to drive that spear right through him.

RAPHAEL  
He had me pinned. I was desperately trying to think of a way out, but I was still kinda groggy and I couldn't think of a thing. Then I heard Splinter's voice.

MASTER SPLINTER

I arrived on the roof just as Raphael was hit and went down to the ground. As Saki changed his grip to prepare to strike a final blow, I announced my presence.

DONATELO

I didn't see Sensei show up - shows you how intent we were on the task at hand. Sensei just said, "Let him go." He doesn't have a very loud voice, but he can project it when he needs to. All of us kind of whirled around.

RAPHAEL

I couldn't see Splinter from my position, but I could see the Shredder was distracted. If I'd been a better ninja, I'da knocked him down. As it was, I just escaped - ducked, rolled, and sprang back up a few feet away.

LEONARDO

Sensei once said the battle begins not when the weapons meet but when the eyes meet. That night was the first time I saw that. Sensei was near the door to the stairway, arms at his side. The Shredder was still spread-eagled, with his spear pointed down towards Raphael - or where Raph used to be, anyway. They just stood there for about a minute. They didn't speak, didn't move.

RAPHAEL  
I was wondering if I was missing something. Like, maybe Splinter was distracting him, and one of us should make a move. But then I realized the battle had already begun. And this was gonna be their fight.

MICHELANGELO

Sensei was the one that finally spoke. He said, "You may remove your mask, Oruku Saki. We know who you are." And slowly, the Shredder took off his mask and helmet.

LEONARDO

The Shredder finally said, "You appear to have me at a disadvantage. You might know me, but who are you...freaks, and why do you attack my domain?" with this...well, it was somewhere between a smile and a sneer. Sensei said, "These are my sons," and we all sort of bowed. "They know me by the name Master Splinter, but long ago, in a previous life, I was known as Hamato Yoshi."

DONATELLO

I could see the Shredder sort of flinch at that. I thought he knew, or at least had guessed. But apparently he never really believed it was Yoshi behind all those attacks. And he certainly didn't guess Yoshi was this rat.

MASTER SPLINTER

His eyes registered panic, fear, confusion. But only for a moment. Afterwards, they were impassive and cold. But I had seen the opening. I knew then that this duel would not be impossible to win. But Saki simply said, "You have inconvenienced me greatly these past months. Let us decide this once and for all." Saki was never one to waste words if it wasn't necessary.

LEONARDO

(pausing) I never told anyone this. (pausing) Sensei came over and asked for one of my katana. As I handed it to him, he said, "Should something happen to me, have Casey take you to Mitako's." Before I could react, he had walked away and got into position. (pausing) That moment hasn't ever left me. Not for a second. I guess I'd never really considered the idea that Sensei might die, and if that happened, then we'd be all alone. Since then, I've always felt fortunate to have Sensei with us.

RAPHAEL  
I was kinda surprised by his choice of weapon. I mean, Splinter's good with everything. He could fight with a banana if that's all that was around. But he's an absolute monster with nunchucks, and I was assuming that's what he'd use. Maybe that's part of the bushido code or something - like you've gotta duel with spears and swords, not chucks. (shaking his head) There's a lot about that night that seemed...weird, though.

MICHELANGELO

Sensei held his katana up, eye level, waiting, and the Shredder brought his spear around into position. And then, again, they froze. Just stared at each other. Splinter used to read us this book he loved - Musashi, it's called. At one point in the book, two guys are having a duel in the snow, and they stand so still that snow builds up on the blades of their swords. Well, it wasn't snowing, but if it were, it woulda happened up there on the roof, too.

DONATELLO

Shredder finally made the first move, and after that, it was almost a blur.

MASTER SPLINTER

We were well-matched in our duel. I may have been somewhat smaller and weaker in my mutated state than I had been previously, but training my sons had honed my skills further. We fought to a standstill for several minutes. Every attack was parried, which led to a counter-attack, which was also parried.

RAPHAEL

Watching Sensei and the Shredder go at it, I realized how completely outclassed we were.

LEONARDO

As I saw the duel take form, strike-parry-counterstrike, I was completely absorbed by it. Ever since I'd begun studying under Splinter, I'd wanted to become a master swordsman. In my battles with the Foot, I had deluded myself into thinking I might be one. But watching this duel, I realized I had a long long way to go.

RAPHAEL  
I remember thinking, "I tried to fight him? What was I thinking?"

MICHELANGELO

Splinter finally got a move up on the Shredder. And it was brilliant.

MASTER SPLINTER

A few strikes and defenses had brought us close together, with our weapons between us. I noticed that his feet were somewhat close together, so I brought my tail around and wrapped it around his lower legs. It wasn't enough to bind him, but it was enough so that when I pushed forward with the flat of the katana, he lost his balance. I immediately unwound my tail and pressed the attack.

DONATELLO  
Splinter basically tripped him. With his tail. It was like, wow! None of us were expecting that, but least of all Shredder. He fell backwards over the edge of the roof, and just barely managed to latch his spear onto Sensei's katana.

MASTER SPLINTER

It was a stalemate. I tried to pull up on the katana, to bring him back up to the roof. But when I pulled up, his spear would begin sliding down the length. I couldn't not guarantee that it would slip off before I got him up to the roof. (pausing) Perhaps he was aware of this. In any event, he decided to make one last move. He was strong enough to hold on to the spear with one hand. He reached to his side, withdrew a knife, and threw it. (pausing) I could not quickly find a way of dodging the throw without dropping the katana. So I dropped it.

LEONARDO

We just saw Sensei struggling with the katana over by the edge of the roof, but suddenly he dropped the katana, moved to the side and caught this knife that the Shredder had thrown. In doing so, the Shredder fell to the alley below.

DONATELLO

We saw Splinter drop the katana, and all of us immediately ran forward. I can't speak for the others, but I was sure the Shredder would land on his feet and run off.

MICHELANGELO

I got to the edge first, so I saw him hit. (pausing, then shuddering) I wasn't expecting that.

RAPHAEL

There was a dumpster in the alley there, and it had these projections on the side, so the garbage truck could lift it up, y'know. Well, Shredder's head slammed right on the end of one. Busted it wide open. He was probably dead before he hit the ground.

DONATELLO

When we saw what happened, we immediately leapt onto the fire escape and began running downstairs.

MASTER SPLINTER

When we reached Saki, it was obvious there was nothing to be done. He was already dead.

MICHELANGELO

I'd never seen anyone die before. We'd come across people who were already dead, and we'd seen some people beaten up pretty bad. Heck, sometimes it was us doing the beating. But the Shredder was the first one to die while I watched. (shaking his head) I didn't like that. At all. Had a really hard time sleeping the next week or so.

RAPHAEL

I kept looking over at the Shredder's body. His head was split open, there was blood and stuff all over the alleyway. (pausing) It kinda excited me, to be honest. My blood lust coming to the front. Kept it in check, though.

DONATELLO

We all just stood there staring as Sensei knelt down to see if there was anything he could do. There wasn't, of course. (pausing) I don't know. That wasn't the ending I was ready for. Looking back, I wasn't sure what I was expecting to happen that night. Maybe Splinter and us would just beat the tar out of the Shredder, and he'd go straight. Or we'd get him arrested. I didn't expect him to die. I don't think any of us did.

LEONARDO

Finally, I looked up, and there were a bunch of Foot soldiers gathered around, some limping in from the building, some arriving from elsewhere. I picked up the katana and started getting into position, but I saw Splinter waving me down from the corner of my eye. He didn't want any more fighting.

MICHELANGELO

Sensei finally looked up from the Shredder, and he had tears running down his face. But when he talked, he still sounded calm, like he always does. He just turned to the Foot guys who were gathering around, and said, "The Foot is no more. It is finished."

RAPHAEL

I was thinking, c'mon, these guys aren't gonna give up that easy. But they looked at Splinter, looked at Shredder - what there was of him - and they just walked away.

DONATELLO

A couple guys said something - like they still wanted to fight, but the others sort of lead them away.

MASTER SPLINTER

I believe I was in shock. (pausing) I did not ever intend to kill Oruku Saki. But I no longer believe I killed him. His own actions, his own decisions, led directly to his death. (pausing) However, it took me much time, and much meditation, to forgive myself for what had happened.

RAPHAEL

After the Foot dispersed, we just sort of stood there. Sensei just said, "The battle is over, my sons. The war is over. Let us go home" and we walked back to Casey's truck. None of us said anything.

MICHELANGELO

I didn't do my victory scream. It...didn't seem appropriate. Haven't done it since, actually.

CASEY

I knew this time they were gonna need my help. I was sitting in the truck, chomping at the bit, waiting for the Foot to come running by. Finally, some Foot guys came by. But they were walking. Slow. They'd all taken off their masks, and some had taken off their uniforms. I was like, what the hell? I didn't feel right attacking them - it looked like they were quitting the Foot, something I heartliy approved of - so I let them go. I waited some more, and just about the time I was thinking I should go see what's going on, the turtles and Splinter show up. By the looks on their faces, you'd think they lost, but none of them look that hurt or beat up or anything. I said, "What's the matter?" and Splinter said, "Nothing. It's over. The Foot is finished." (shrugging) I figured there was more to the story, but it didn't look like he was in the mood for talking. So I just had them jump in the back and I drove them home.

DONATELLO

We'd only gone about a block when I turned to Sensei and said, "So what happens now?" And he said, "Nothing, my son. Only the rest of our lives." I watched the city go by and thought about that the rest of the way home.


End file.
